The European Union has finally decided to pass the fourth package of anti-Russian sanctions that will hit Gazprom, Rosneft and Transneft. The sanctions also serve to demonstrate the consolidation of EU countries. The final decision of the Council of the EU will be published in September, though the sanctions may be gradually lifted, depending on the situation in Ukraine, ITAR-TASS reports.
Alexey Gromyko, the acting head of the RAS Institute of Europe, reminded that the EU had imposed three packages of sanctions, yet only the third one was essential, the first two were symbolic. The sanctions hit thousands of companies in the EU too. The expert noted that Italy had been in recession three times, Germany was showing poor economic performance, France was hesitating with the Mistral aircraft carriers made for Russia.
In his opinion, the fourth package was pushed by the U.S. He reminded that 28 EU countries have split into 3 groups, in terms of sanction approval. Gromyko predicts that the latest sanctions will be just as symbolic as the first two packages.
Alexey Kuznetsov, deputy director of RAS IMEMO, believes that the new package is very unrelated to the events in Ukraine and targets Russian energy companies. He pointed out the Baltic states, for example, have pushed Gazprom out of their market and ignored its protests. Kuznetsov supposes that the sanctions pursue the goal of supplanting Russia from the European energy market. The analyst added that the new sanctions will weaken the positions of Gazprom and Rosneft in Europe.
The European Union has finally decided to pass the fourth package of anti-Russian sanctions that will hit Gazprom, Rosneft and Transneft. The sanctions also serve to demonstrate consolidation of EU countries. The final decision of the Council of the EU will be published on September, though the sanctions may be gradually lifted, depending on the situation in Ukraine, ITAR-TASS reports.Alexey Gromyko, the acting head of the RAS Institute of Europe,, reminded that the EU had imposed three packages of sanctions, yet only the third one was essential, the first two were symbolic. The sanctions hit thousands of companies in the EU too. The expert noted that Italy had been in recession three times, Germany was showing poor economic performance, France was hesitating with Mistral made for Russia.In his opinion, the fourth package was pushed by the U.S. He reminded that 28 EU countries split into 3 groups, in terms of sanction approval. Gromyko predicts that the latest sanctions will be just as symbolic as the first two packages.Alexey Kuznetsov, deputy director of RAS IMEMO, believes that the new package is very unrelated to the events in Ukraine and targets Russian energy companies. He pointed out the Baltic states, for example, pushed Gazprom out of their market and ignored its protests. Kuznetsov supposes that the sanctions pursue the goal of supplanting Russia from the European energy market. The analyst added that the new sanctions will weaken the positions of Gazprom and Rosneft in Euro
