Sanctions against Russia: they decided not to hit yet where serious money are

As Novye Izvestia has already reported, the European Union has imposed sanctions on a number of high-ranking Russian officials after the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that new sanctions against Russian officials in connection with the situation around opposition leader Alexei Navalny were introduced at his suggestion:

"The first list under the new global sanctions regime for human rights violations was adopted today at my suggestion", - said the head of the EU diplomatic service.

Recall that the EU imposed personal sanctions against Russian officials due to the persecution of Navalny. The restrictions included the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), Alexander Kalashnikov, and the head of the Russian Guard, Viktor Zolotov. They are banned from entering the European Union, their European assets are subject to freezing, and EU residents cannot provide them with any financial services. Following the EU, the United States introduced sanctions against Russia.

Next, the United States published its list of sanctions against Russia for the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. There were no surprises in the list of Russians who fell under the sanctions and, most importantly, there were no business representatives - it is limited by the security forces and officials of the Kremlin's political bloc. A separate package of sanctions for the use of chemical weapons turned out to be more stringent than the one that was introduced in 2019 for the poisoning of the Skripals, but even here they did without the most severe measures - first of all, new restrictions on the Russian national debt. But these measures may follow in three months. With or without them, the second package of sanctions should be introduced in early June.

In addition to the listed persons, sanctions also included: the 27th scientific center of the Ministry of Defense, the 33rd Central Scientific Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense and the Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology (GosNIIOKhT).

In the United States, the assets of people on the sanctions list are frozen, and US citizens and companies are prohibited from doing business with them.

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Experts comment on this sad news for Russia, focusing on different components of the sanctions.

Economist Alexey Mineyev, for example, is sure that the imposed sanctions are “the final chord in the process of Russia's disintegration from Europe. "The fate of Nord Stream 2" - accordingly..."

Network analyst Vera Afanasyeva considered the Russian officials who have come under the sanctions to be "killer", but this is not the main thing in her opinion:

“And most importantly, this is it. Washington stops providing aid to Moscow under the 1961 Foreign Aid Act, "with the exception of urgent humanitarian aid."

The United States also stops selling and exporting to Russia "any kind of defense products", granting licenses and permits to export weapons. At the same time, the sanctions will not affect the current space cooperation, but which will be terminated in 6 months.

In addition, any US foreign military funding programs with Russian participation are terminated.

Washington refuses to provide Moscow with "any loans, credit guarantees or other financial assistance", including through the American Export-Import Bank.

Everything is clear and clear, there are no uncertainties - it is Russia that is accused; named exactly those who were involved in the poisoning of Navalny; the method of poisoning, military nerve gas produced in Russia, is named;

But that's not all, other measures have been announced - including for hacking American servers during 2020..."

Experts of the Methodichka channel believe that this is only a prelude to other, much more severe measures:

“Since last year, Moscow has lived in anticipation of new sanctions, this time for the poisoning of Navalny. Closer to spring, rumors reached that the EU would impose a sanction, so to speak, in the category of light (especially since Germany finally has a voice in defense of Nord Stream 2). They expected about the same from Washington. But the State Department knows how to “hurt differently”.

The difference between European and American sanctions is about the same as between the dry crime report and the plot of Petrov's "Honest Detective". And if earlier many sanctions of this kind were carefully attached to the "Magnitsky Act" (this was the case, for example, with those involved in the murder of Boris Nemtsov), as a last resort, some kind of legal game was invented (that is, this is game for us, but for the nation of precedents litigants - the norm), like writing lines about SP-2 in the defense budget, then this time in the news there are accusations of a fundamentally different level. "Bulk" sanctions are carried out as a violation of the acts on the non-proliferation of chemical and biological weapons. And so that no one doubts that everything is serious, the sanctions against individuals, companies and departments were supplemented with a total ban on military-technical cooperation, defense industry and humanitarian aid.

Personal sanctions were attached to the “Ukrainian” act by E.O. 13661 (and Executive Order No. 13661 of the US Presidential Administration of March 19, 2014 - On blocking the property of new persons contributing to the situation in Ukraine - ed. ), Which gives rise to sad jokes about "Kiriyenko", but, in turn, nothing does not explain the actual reasons for this choice.

It is clear that overseas "they do not understand the types of security officials," so it was a matter of time for Sergei Vladilenovich to get on the sanctions list. But nevertheless, it is still a little offensive for one of the "last Europeans" in power. On the other hand, “sanctioned means ours”.

Returning to the special emphasis on the defense industry and technology, and the subsequent comments of the type “and we haven’t been friends for a long time (and we didn’t really want to)”. Such "hawkish" wording means that intelligence and other control in the defense sphere will be further strengthened, including over what is called "dual-use" technologies. And this may already make it impossible to supply for the Russian MS-21 not only Pratt & Whitney engines (which, as we are promised, we will soon be importing), but also internal equipment from the semi-defense Honeywell, which Russia will be able to produce almost never. Say "nonsense"? The same was said about composites three years ago, and as a result, we had to urgently create industrial designs practically from scratch. If the medium-haul project were private, this alone could lead the company to bankruptcy. And in Russia, nothing, just throw a couple of design bureaus on the street, business, then.

However, no borrowings from the oligarchic part of Navalny's list have yet been found. They decided not to hit for serious money yet. But this is "bye"..."

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And the Dyadya Simon telegram channel provides interesting information from the diary of Anatoly Chernyaev, an assistant to Mikhail Gorbachev, about what package of sanctions the USSR flew in after the troops entered Afghanistan:

“Carter deprived us of 17 million tons of grain (flour and pasta immediately disappeared in Moscow), banned all other exports, closed all negotiations and visits, and demanded that the Olympics be canceled (today the US NOC agreed with Carter’s opinion). Thatcher did the same. Portugal has banned us from fishing in its 200-mile zone, just like the United States has banned us from fishing, reducing our catch quota from 450,000 to 75,000 tons. Canada and Australia did the same. Almost all Western countries (with the exception of France) have reduced the level and volume of all exchanges and visits. All planned exhibitions and tours (the Hermitage in the USA, the Bolshoi in Norway, etc.) are prohibited. Australia has closed calls for our Antarctic vessels at its ports. Banks have closed loans to us ... "

As we can see, there was no talk at that time about any suspension of oil and gas supplies to Europe.