Contents tagged with Sanctions
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Lithuanian President: Sanctions against Russia will remain in force
According to Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė, the Lithuanian people are better than the most European countries at understanding their Russian neighbor.
In an interview with ICTV, Grybauskaitė stated that most European countries have a certain quality of remoteness in their relationships with the Russian Federation. "The people of Lithuania in their own skin understand this relationship. Italy and Greece are too remote. They never had historical relations with Russia like we have. …
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Daniel Fried: Russia is now Taking Sanctions Seriously
Speaking at American University in Washington on January 15th, the U.S. State Department’s Coordinator for Sanctions, Daniel Fried, stated that the U.S. Government believes that sanctions are an instrument of international policy. According to Fried, economic influences have a greater effect than the use of military force in today’s political climate.
In recent history, there are examples of both successful and unsuccessful sanctions. For the latter, Fried cites the blockade of Cuba, which, …
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Russia’s natural resource hegemony continues to decline
With the lifting of sanctions against Iran and Tehran’s consequent participation in the global oil market, the price for Russia’s main export commodity—energy sources—continues to decline with no end in sight. With the fourth largest reserves in the world, Iran put its oil on the global market on Monday, contributing to oil prices dropping below $28 per barrel.
What is more, the recent events in the Russian gas supply market exacerbate the situation, as traditional markets for Russian natural …
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Russia Prepared To Reduce Sanctions Against Turkey To Complete World Cup Projects
The Kremlin is ready to reduce sanctions against Turkish construction companies in order to complete construction projects for the World Cup Championship that is to be held in the Russian Federation in 2018. The reduction of sanctions can affect about 30 Turkish construction companies. According to Kommersant, the total cost of these works is estimated at 60 billion rubles (approximately $784 million).
Moreover, developers can be allowed to stay in Russia under the condition that they will …
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PACE: Russia Awaits New Sanctions
The powers of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will continue to be suspended because of the annexation of Crimea and the war in the Donbas region.
State Duma deputies representing Russia at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) could receive a cold reception from some of their European colleagues during the opening of the winter session. It will begin its work on January 25th in Strasbourg. According to a source in the …
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Russia Halts Transit of Ukrainian Goods
The Russian Federation has imposed customs duties as well as a food embargo against Ukraine in an effort to protect its market from the influx of duty-free supplies entering the Ukraine from the European Union. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine (MEDTU) reported that Russia has fully halted the transit of Ukrainian goods into its territory as of 4 January 2016.
“This ban by the Russian Federation is not clear. It is unacceptable and discriminatory in nature. Therefore, …
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40 tons of Belgian pears destroyed at Russian border
Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) agents and Roskomnadzor’s employees found two batches of pears at the Troitsk checkpoint in the Chelyabinsk region. The shipment of pears falls under the Presidential Decree issuing retaliatory sanctions, the Rosselkhoznadzor press service reported.
Fresh pears from Belgium were imported to Russia by two cars from Kazakhstan. Kazakh certificates, indicating Serbia as the country of origin, were attached to them. The total weight of the two batches was 40 …
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Putin blames profiteers for Russia’s economic woes
At a meeting with cabinet members, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for increasing the amount of high-quality but inexpensive Russian products on the market. Putin said that profiteering has led to a decline in living standards in the country, and has produced an unjustified increase in the cost of products, goods, and services.
“Today, unreasonable, frankly profiteering price hikes on goods and services are leading to lower living standards. We need to use all market instruments …
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Duma Deputy Proposes New Counter-Sanctions against US
In response to U.S. sanctions against Russia, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Mikhail Emelyanov, proposed imposing sanctions against Coca-Cola, as well as Visa and MasterCard payment systems.
“We conduct business with some American companies that will be susceptible to these sanctions. This applies primarily to the audit companies, financial companies and, of course, Coca-Cola," the Russian Deputy said.
Emelyanov …
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Russia calls Connecting EU Sanctions to Situation in Donbas Groundless
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that connecting the EU sanctions to the regulation of the conflict in the Donbass is “groundless.”
"The fact that the EU binds their sanctions to the settlement of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine is artificial and groundless. This conflict was started not by Russia, but by the current Ukrainian government," the Ministry said.
"The lack of logic in the behavior of the European Union is obvious. It's trying to 'punish' Russia for something that it has no …