The chairman of the Department for Country Studies of the Institute of Europe (the Russian Academy of Sciences), Vladislav Belov, shared his views with Pravda.Ru about the introduction of economic and political sanctions against Russia.
"U.S. Department of Commerce banned the supplies of spacecraft with US-made equipment on board, which caused problems to European partners. Have such actions been coordinated with the Europeans?"
"The U.S. imposed a ban on issuing export licenses for the delivery of high-tech equipment for the Russian military-industrial complex, including dual-use products. The news related to satellites is very information to the European partners of the U.S. In my opinion, the Americans have not coordinated the restrictive measures with their European partners.
"The situation for European partners should just as unpleasant as the situation with the U.S. secret services wiretapping European partners to ensure security of the United States and international community on the whole. They offended their European partners on the top level with this, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. European companies will suffer considerable losses due to the inability to launch satellites. I do not quite understand this restriction, because Russian launch vehicles and what they carry are absolutely different things. The equipment that is launched into space is the property of another state, another company, and they control their access to the equipment that is launched into space. It's all sealed up, so it is hard to understand the desire of the Americans to annoy the Russian partners with the inability to launch these satellites, which entails financial losses that the Russian side will suffer.
"One would like to remind our American partners that we live in an economically interdependent world. Russia provides the U.S. with heavy launch vehicles for their equipment and rockets. Nobody canceled cooperation in space, on the International Space Station, etc. Therefore, the clumsy attempts of the Americans to hurt specific Russian companies, including the military-industrial complex, are not fully understood.
"As our journalists say, it is unclear why the Americans urge others to enjoy themselves, as they cut off their own fingers. They say that we understand that we are losing a finger, but in doing so we are inflicting pain to others.
"If we are talking about sanctions against the defense industry, space industry, this means that Russia is being viewed as a potential aggressor. Therefore, all arrangements of the last decades, including arms reduction treaties, made no sense at all. Either the Americans were dishonest when they were saying that they considered Russia their partner, or we lied to them saying that we were the aggressors. In terms of the concept adopted in 2013 and the military doctrine, Russia is a peaceful state, and we offer the Americans cooperation in missile defense."
"German Chancellor Angela Merkel is going to Washington tomorrow. In addition to the meeting with Obama, she will have meetings with Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund. What will Merkel be discussing?"
"First of all - Ukraine, secondly - Ukraine and thirdly - also Ukraine. Germany has its own problems and "skeletons in the closet" in relations with the United States. It goes about special services, illegal wiretapping and illegal obtaining of information by U.S. intelligence agencies. This scandal has been going on for a year already. Germany is the leading representative of the EU, if we talk about the EU as a negotiator in Geneva. Accordingly, now Germany and Merkel are the heavyweights, whom one listens to first.
Germany works in close cooperation with Poland. Poland, like France, can be seen as guarantors of the European position to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. Lagarde is all that is associated with loans for Ukraine. On April 30, the IMF is to sign the documents to give 17 billion to Ukraine. which is not a gift at all.
In the East of Ukraine, there is a stalemate situation: the lower classes want reforms and rights that the regions could get. The USSR was a confederal structure that collapsed because of confederate rights. The RFSR was and remains a federal entity. The EU has gone on about the Americans as far as sanctions are concerned, for this is primarily an American model of showing influence on unwanted government. I hope that the Europeans will be able to bring Obama and his administration to reason, but this is wishful thinking that is unlikely to be implemented."
"Le Monde newspaper wrote that the U.S. is putting pressure on Europe to adopt new sanctions against Russia. Is Merkel going to the USA to chill the United States?"
"I'm afraid not. Merkel is staying under heavy pressure from various communities, not only business, but also civil society. The U.S. attempts to wage an economic war on the territory of other states by proxy. This is sheer ugliness. I was unpleasantly surprised by the position of the EU, which has gone on about the Americans, about the stereotyping perception of the geopolitical situation. What the Americans organized is a belch of the Cold War, but the Europeans and now the Japanese supported them."
"Do you think that the talks about all these sanctions are more harmful to Russia than sanctions themselves because they bring down stock markets?"
"Absolutely. Outflow of capital from Russia and the reaction of the ruble rate primarily depends on expectations. This is the way markets live. Soros makes money on that - he always played on speculations. The rating agencies that play with rankings of countries and companies are not so independent, but they do not bear any responsibility for it."
Pravda.Ru
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