The sanctions imposed by Western countries against Russia hit the EU hardest, because they were adopted for political reasons, without conducting the necessary studies of their influence on world markets, UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, Idriss Jazairy, said.
He drew attention to the fact that the introduction of sanctions against Russia stimulated the development of the products in the country, which used to be exported from Europe, especially agricultural products.
Jazairy also noted that while Russia managed to adapt itself to the sanctions, the European market suffered huge losses. And now Europe is facing the so-called secondary sanctions, and European companies - new requirements to conduct their business in accordance with US law.
In addition, he drew attention to the fact that sanctions affect US manufacturers as well.
In this regard, the special rapporteur stressed that in such cases it is necessary to conduct a thorough investigation of the impact of sanctions not only on the target country, but also on their own and world markets.
The senior research fellow at the European Research Centre of the International Relations Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Olenchenko, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, explained that those who develop and adopt sanctions proceed from their understanding of the economy, believing that such actions would be harmful to Russia's economy. "But it turns out that it has no effect on the Russian economy. There is also an issue of international economic relations. The initiators of sanctions expect that the Russian economy will suffer damage and it will be less represented in international economic relations. Accordingly, other countries hope to occupy this share of the market. But in practice, the consequences are sad for those who generate sanctions. The Russian economy is developing in the usual way, refusing to provide its market for goods and services of Western countries - first of all, the EU countries, G7 and the United States," the expert said.
He expressed confidence that over time the economy will prevail over politics in the West and sanctions will be abolished.
Director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting, Professor Alexander Gusev, explained that the West is currently experiencing a double-edged effect of sanctions, especially Europe and, in particular, Germany, which, according to a report published last week, loses about 622 million euros per month due to the anti-Russian sanctions. "Of course, Russia imposed restraining measures on the supply of a number of goods and services as a respond. The trade turnover with Germany until 2014 in Russia was at the level of 90 billion euros, second only to the Netherlands and China," the expert said.
"The US does not calculate its losses from anti-Russian sanctions, because the trade turnover between Russia and the US is about $ 35 billion, which is 3.5 times lower than with Germany. But the negative economic effect is important for Europeans. Poland, Austria, Bulgaria and many other countries suffered losses. In general, Europe has lost about 240 billion euros since March 2014, Russia has lost about 150 billion euros," he stressed.
According to the expert, more and more opinions are voiced in Europe now in favor of lifting sanctions or their softening. "In particular, the Czech president Miloš Zeman said that the sanctions should be canceled long ago, the Prime Minister of Finland, the President of Austria, the Italian Prime Minister agree with him. Therefore, European countries understand that sanctions are causing notable harm not only to Russia but also to them," Alexander Gusev summarized.
