Moscow – Western business has been frightened more than Russia's by the sanctions and retaliatory measures, says Russian Presidential Aide Andrei Belousov.
“The reaction of the Western business, to put it more accurately, business from the Eastern European countries – Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, from Germany, from France, from Italy have been very sharp,” Belousov said in an interview with Sergei Brilev, the host of the Vesti v Subbotu (News on Saturday) television program.
Russian business has met sanctions “with calm interest, as if looking at some unknown, yet harmless little beast,” he said on Saturday.
“But the Western business got frightened in earnest and started sending all kinds of signals: we understand everything, all these are political games but please understand us – we are now playing these games there but we strongly ask you: give us a chance to stay on the markets, and so on and so forth,” said the Russian presidential aide.
He added that by European estimates, total losses from the sanctions and anti-sanctions amount to around 40 billon euros. Those countries that have close ties with Russia – Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland and Estonia – have been the hardest hit, he said.
