World press on Russia's foreign policy and the sanctions imposed on the country (October 1-3, 2014)

The Financial Times published an article by Gillian Tett headlined "The hidden cost of freezing Russia out of finance."

According to the author, the international banking system SWIFT has recently reported that the EU and the US are pressuring the network to suspend its cooperation with Russian banks. The system is not willing to give up and is going to issue a special statement, the article reads.

However, if the network agrees to support the sanctions imposed on Russia, the Russian economy will be damaged severely, the Financial Times writes.

The problem is that such a move will be unfavourable for the global financial system as well, the author of the article notes.

Bloomberg published an article by Saleha Mohsin and Heather Harris entitled "Putin Not Big Enough Threat to Undermine Europe, Norway Says."

"Europe shouldn’t fear the economic fallout of deteriorating ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg said," the article begins.

“Russia isn’t such a large economy so it doesn’t have that big an impact on our European economy,” Solberg, 53, said yesterday in an interview at her office in Oslo. While sanctions and counter sanctions have hurt primarily the fishing industry, there’s still “good growth in Norway,” the head of the Norwegian cabinet is quoted by the authors as saying.

"Europe has watched its economic growth slow as Russia’s handling of Ukraine poisons trade relations. Norway, which isn’t a European Union member, backs U.S. and EU economic sanctions that have pushed Russia’s $2 trillion economy to the brink of recession. Investors have responded by pulling capital, sending Russia’s benchmark Micex index down 7.7 percent this year," the article reads.

"Russia has retaliated with its own trade bans, including stopping salmon imports from Norway, the world’s largest salmon exporter. Norwegian salmon farmers shipped about 9 percent of their produce to the Russian market in the first half. At the same time, energy companies such as Statoil ASA (STL), which is 67 percent owned by the Norwegian state, are struggling to manage their business ties with Russia," Bloomberg writes