A statement released by the group’s leaders recently revealed that these restrictions would cover Russian exports of industrial machinery as well as tools and technology that serve Russian war efforts, as well as efforts to stifle Russian income from trade in minerals and diamonds.
This trend reflects the insistence of major countries on their supportive stance towards Ukraine and is part of the sanctions packages imposed by the United States of America and European countries.
Although the leaders of the G7 summit in Hiroshima pledged to toughen sanctions against Russia, it is proof that the West is still strongly behind Ukraine in its battle against Russia, but it is also a “sign of Western failure”, according to the expression of the British writer, Larry Elliott, in an article which appeared to him in the British newspaper “The Guardian” on Sunday.
The author justifies this by saying:
“Despite talk of a quick victory, there was no fatal blow in the economic war (..) and the lack of immediate success should not come as a big surprise.” There is no doubt that Russia is feeling the impact of the sanctions, as is the West. One of the reasons why claims that the Russian economy is on the brink of collapse is exaggerated is that Western policymakers know their constituents are suffering the side effects (rising energy and food prices and decline in standard of living). Despite all this, public support for Ukraine in the G7 countries remains strong.
While the writer believes that the Kremlin is showing stronger economic resilience than expected by the G7, he points out that “the last 15 months have revealed the difficulties of imposing an economic blockade on a country that benefits from natural resources and techniques like Russia,” explaining that “the new measures were designed to disrupt the Kremlin’s ability to supply equipment to its military, fill gaps, reduce international dependence on Russian energy, and to also limit Moscow’s access to the global financial system.
variable penalties
For his part, the visiting professor at the Faculty of Orientalism of the Moscow Higher School of Economics, Rami Al-Qalyubi, says in exclusive statements to the “Sky News Arabia” site:
If we look at the Western sanctions imposed on Russia so far, the most serious of them is “the embargo on Russian oil transported by sea to the European Union, as well as European countries cutting one to a Russian gas, because this sector is the most sensitive for Moscow’s economy.” As with all other sanctions, they disturb specific sectors, but they do not affect the level of the Russian macroeconomics, which has shown a high degree of resilience that the West did not expect, just as Russia does not did not expect military resilience in Ukraine. , which led to the prolongation of the conflict. Likewise, any unilateral sanction is ineffective, because in order to influence a country economically, there must be possibilities of international sanctions against it, as happened with North Korea and Iran, for example, “and this is impossible in the Russian case, because Russia and China will not allow sanctions to pass through the Security Council.
Al-Qalyubi points out that “there is an option for the West to impose secondary sanctions on those who deal with Russia, as is the case with Iran, but the West has not achieved this. point, perhaps realizing the danger of removing Russia from the world map in the areas of energy and food in particular.
The visiting professor at the Faculty of Orientalism at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics believes that these recent Russia-related decisions are “further proof of the failure of Western sanctions”, adding: “If we look Previous sanctions didn’t stop countries like North Korea, Iran and Syria from moving forward with their policies, so how do you affect a country the size of Russia?
The Russian economy contracted by 2.1% last year, compared to growth of 5.6% on an annual basis in 2021, according to what was announced by the Russian Federal Statistical Service. The International Monetary Fund expects growth of 0.7% this year for the Russian economy.
Returning to the Guardian article, the British writer points out that “there are reports of a brain drain of skilled workers and a shortage of spare parts, but this will not lead to the collapse immediate impact of the Russian economy, but in the long term, these are factors – if left unaddressed – that would slow down the economy.”
Interestingly, some Russians acknowledge that the war had an impact. Last September, the National Institute for Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences published an assessment in which it acknowledged that the shock of the sanctions had affected almost all parts of the economy.
Difficulties in obtaining raw materials and components were among the most acute, he said.
According to the report, “Despite the severity of these problems, the authorities managed to quite quickly halt the inflationary rise in the economy, prevent bank runs, ensure the smooth functioning of the payment system and bring the ruble back to the levels anterior”.
Europe is punishing itself!
For his part, a Brussels expert in European affairs, Muhammad Ragai Barakat, indicates in exclusive statements to “Sky News Arabia” that:
All these sanctions, whether imposed by the European Union and the G7, with varying degrees of firmness, “have not deterred Russia from continuing the war in Ukraine”. These sanctions have – as everyone knows – had negative consequences for the economies of the countries that imposed the same sanctions. The European Union, for example, has been strongly affected by these sanctions with regard to the import of energy sources at prices different from what was the situation before the war.
Barakat continues: “The fact that the G7 countries and other countries continue to think about imposing new sanctions indicates that these countries are incapable of confronting Russia (..) I do not want to say that Russia wins in this area, but the continuation and increase in sanctions, their escalation and increase, and an increase in the number of people sanctioned means that the countries imposing the sanctions have not achieved the desired results.
He concludes by saying: “I believe that public opinion in Europe has begun to feel the insignificance and ineffectiveness of these sanctions, and that it is he who is being punished for having imposed these sanctions, so that certain men European politicians have also begun, albeit indirectly, to say that these sanctions are not enough.”
Three “questionable” hypotheses
In his aforementioned article, British writer Larry Elliott explains that there are three questionable assumptions that reinforced the West’s belief that the economic war would end quickly:
It is that Russia will run out of money, and will therefore not be able to finance its military action.
Energy embargoes and the freezing of Russian reserves held by Western central banks, however, proved to be less effective measures than expected.
While the volume of Russian oil and gas exports has fallen, rising prices mean that the value of exports has not been affected. Russia has also offered to supply oil and gas at discounted prices and has found many ready buyers, including China and India.
It’s that the whole world community will unite against Moscow.
The author refutes this assumption saying: This type of optimism has proven wrong, as many countries in Africa and Asia refused to condemn Russia in a United Nations vote at the start of the war. and instead abstained from voting.
And this lack of global support for Ukraine has allowed Russia to circumvent sanctions.
is that Russia in 2023 is no different from the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
On this “also dubious” hypothesis, the author relies on a research article by the American economist James Galbraith, in which he says that “Russia has an excellent educational system, a lot of technical knowledge, and has the factories that Western multinationals have built”. since the end of the cold war.
Sanctions incentivize Russians to replace Western imports with locally grown produce.
“Although some technologies have yet to be mastered, Russia does not lack basic ingredients – food, fuel, materials, scientific and engineering talent,” Galbraith said.
War takes many forms
And from St. Petersburg, the head of the Russian-Arab Cultural Center, Dr. Musallam Shaito, says in exclusive statements to “Sky News Arabia Economy” that:
The war against Russia takes many forms (military, political and economic) under the leadership of the United States of America. “Sanctions are being imposed at the direction of Washington with the intent of exerting pressure and intimidation, including intimidating countries that do not join the sanctions,” he said. Sanctions have a negative impact, but not at the same level as European countries.
European economies have been affected by the sanctions, given the high cost of living, while in Russia life seems normal, and goods are produced locally, as well as all services.
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