By Vestnik Kavkaza
On February 11 in Minsk, a meeting of the “Normandy Quartet” will be held. The agreement was reached during a telephone conversation between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. However, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström said that the EU should prepare a package of additional economic sanctions against Russia to apply them if the negotiations on Ukraine fail.
Since March, Western countries have repeatedly imposed sanctions on a number of Russian politicians, businessmen and companies because of Russia's position on the Ukrainian crisis, but the chairman of the committee of the Chamber of Commerce for the development of the consumer market, chairman of the Interbranch Expert Council on the development of the consumer market Alexander Borisov doesn't only see a negative side to the sanctions.
"Looking back at the events that happened six months ago, we can say that for all of us it was unexpected. But in such conditions we prevented the disappearance from the shelves of a huge number of products that fell under the sanctions, and managed to prevent a sudden rise in prices. This suggests that the market economy is working and solving many problems, that Russia fits into the global market, and also tells us about interaction of the major players of the chain from field to counter," said Borisov.
Still, he is concerned about the direction of the majority of publications in print media, the lack of clear political analyses in television reports, where the search for those responsible for the rise in prices is focused only on one link of the chain from field to counter - at retail. In fact, according to Borisov, the problem lies in the fact that the business environment for all participants is very complex, prices are rising everywhere and there simply cannot be one culprit.
However, according to expert, the embargo became a "kind of a kick for a number of authorities, which began to run in search of additional funds for new solutions that actually should have been taken much earlier. But they were taken only under the pressure of the situation and under the order of their bosses. Business also started to run – in search of additional niches, new opportunities. Despite the fact that it is difficult to expect clear and rapid progress, the embargo has given everything a certain push."
