Russia has devised a series of asymmetric measures to be taken should the United States tighten up sanctions, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at a meeting of the Federation Council’s international affairs committee, which discussed the bill on the suspension of the plutonium disposal agreement with the United States.
"The US policy of sanctions towards Russia has continued for a long time. We have used this period to do some research and to reserve a series of measures that might be used asymmetrically, if the regime of sanctions is tightened further," TASS cited him as saying.
"The document implementation is suspended amid new circumstances in the relations of the sides," Ryabkov said presenting the document at the committee’s meeting.
"From the international and legal viewpoint, the array of steps taken by the US led to a drastic change in the circumstances that existed at the moment when the deal was signed," the diplomat explained. "This wording fits the provisions of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and allows suspending the effect of the agreement based on the convention."
The President of the National Strategy Institute, Mikhail Remizov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the withdrawal of Russian assets from US securities could be the first most logical step for Russia. "At least, it can be done in relation to those assets, which can be identified as belonging to the state. But this should be done before the United States makes a decision to freeze Russian money on US accounts. It is not clear whether it is possible now, especially since the government and the Central Bank are still building up their assets in US securities," he pointed out.
The second leverage against the US is in the field of intellectual property. "After joining the WTO, we have met all the requirements for intellectual property standards, which are promoted by US multinational corporations. Our approaches to intellectual property may be significantly adjusted. Some of our other WTO obligations also do not benefit Russia, and if the information war takes a turn to the worse, we may suspend them until better times," Mikhail Remizov pointed out.
The expert stressed that these measures asymmetrical, since Russia will not cause damage to the US, but will reduce its dependence on factors controlled by Washington. "These are a backup of the system of financial accounts and an alternative payment system, because a package of more drastic sanctions may include Russia being disconnected from SWIFT and a ban on the operation of payment systems. As you can imagine, these steps should be proactive, because it will be too late when SWIFT is cut off," he concluded.
