Industry sanctions, being introduced by the European Union regarding Russia, will inflict economic damage to the EU itself very soon. We don't expect EU to reconsider restriction measures due to serious pressure from the United States, acting Director of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexei Gromyko said.
“Of course, the EU will experience damage from the sanctions. But
this damage will not be significant enough for EU, which is under
great pressure of the U.S., to cancel these sanctions quickly,” Gromyko
told Interfax on July 30.
“Everything depends on the situation in Ukraine and around it.
Sanctions were introduced for one year. In three months EU leaders will
gather in order to analyze the consequences of these sanctions. If a
solution mutually beneficial for Russia and the West is not found and
tension in Ukraine remains, the restrictions introduced for one year, at
least for one year, will be in effect,” the expert said.
In any case the damage from sanctions will be mutual and further
cooling of relations between Russia and the EU should be expected,
Gromyko said. “Sanctions have never led to improving relations. It is
quite logical to suppose that the introduction of the third wave of EU
sanctions against Russia will lead to further deterioration of relations
between them. And as to the future, in the coming month Russian market
participants and those in the countries introducing these sanctions will
suffer from these sanctions,” he said.
At the same time, the stance of Washington, making European partners
introduce restrictions against Russia, is a dominant external factor for
the EU, the expert said.
“It is absolutely clear that sanctions will be counter-productive for
both parties and, unfortunately, it should be concluded that the
motivation of the sanctions is solely political. The external factor for
the EU – the factor of the U.S. stance in this regard – plays an
exaggerated role here and makes European partners of Washington follow
the path which in reality is unacceptable for most of them,” Gromyko
said.
The EU has announced sanctions, according to which Russian banks with
state participation will not be able to sell shares and take out
long-term loans at the European market, and has introduced embargos on
selling Russia equipment for gas and oil extraction and dual-purpose
technology.
