Russia's economy and citizens of Russia proved to be more resistant to pressure from the West, But the U.S. will not agree to the abolition of the punishment in the near future, says British expert in the field of international relations, chief editor of Politics First Marcus Papadopoulos.

"The West does not realize how much stress the citizens of Russia and how the extreme hardships They are able to withstand, when faced With an external threat. In this case, the external threat can be considered aggressive behavior of the USA in Ukraine and the use of punishment. The West mistakenly assumes that in Russia there are some Pro-Western forces. All surveys of the opinions of a large number of citizens show that Russian citizens support the policies of President centuries Putin, in contrast, from the evil of the West's policy in Ukraine and the world in General, " said Fins news specialist, explaining the results of the year elapsed Since the beginning of the confrontation between Russia and the West.

Papadopoulos said that the Russian Federation, and any other economically developed and integrated into the world economy the country is suffering from the punishment. However, the damage penalty is applied not only Moscow, But also its partners.

"of course, the Russian Economy suffers from punishment. But the arisen problems are solvable and manageable. Indeed, just as the US has not damaged from the Russian punishment - to be honest, the volume of trade between the U.S. and Russia is very small. But Russia is not lost and the judgment of the European Union. At the same time most of the EU economy from British to German and Spanish - suffer from the inability to trade With Russia. An example is the recent protests by farmers in Spain, " says Papadopoulos.

He believes that North America will seek to preserve the punishment as long as possible, the EU, for its part, to a lesser extent." whereas it would be fair to say that the punishment will not be cancelled in the near future ", - says the expert.

Speaking about that, did the West goal, subjecting the Russian Federation sanctions pressure, Papadopoulos said that the main objective of the US and its allies is to cripple the Russian economy and make the country a mass discontent to end up with a popular uprising against the government came to power Pro-Western administration. This goal has undergone a complete failure, said the expert.

"The Russian Economy is much stronger and more stable than thinks the West. On the contrary, in the last days, the rouble has recovered almost uncontrolled fall of last fall. The rate of the ruble against the dollar has risen more than 12%. The West has underestimated how many allies of Russia in the world and how the Kremlin was able to capitalize on it, transforming it into an income. Which could compensate for the loss caused by the punishment. As example, last year gas contract With China ", - said the head of the Department.

with his hand, another expert, chief expert of the Institute for European Leadership Network (ELN) Ian Burns, believes that by the end of the elapsed time since the breakup of the Russian Federation and the West of the year, between Moscow and the West only increased the degree of confrontation.

"From November to early March We said 27 new incidents that can be called serious, that is more provocative than others, and bearing the risk of escalation. For example, this is a case of 12 December 2015, when the Russian aircraft just managed to avoid a collision With a passenger the airline company SAS and application in March of Russian bombers in the Black sea in response to the placement of NATO ships. The remaining 25 incidents were not more dangerous, among them the search for Russian submarines off the coast of Britain and the Danger to Aviadvigatel over Ireland because of the flights of Russian bombers, " said Kerns.

He believes that the Russian leadership is obliged to reconsider its attitude to the continued hard demonstrations of military force and to assess All the risks. All parties (EU and Russia) are obliged to establish and to improve links between the military departments and to exercise political and military restraint, said the expert.

"currently, NATO has a clear understanding of the necessity of maintaining channels of communication With Russia through the line of defense. They must be saved, despite the gap of military cooperation With Russia. We can conclude that the way to protect such incidents have the opportunity to be discussed both within NATO and in the meetings of the NATO Secretary General To the permanent representative of Russia to the Alliance, " said Kerns.


Western countries From March 2014 has repeatedly imposed punishment because of the position of Russia in Ukraine. The last case of using such practices were the limits imposed in March 2015, when was expanded sanctions List USA.

The list of Russian Citizens and organizations, who are under punishment, the material of the Fins news

sections: Politics