US may lift sanctions against Russia before end of 2016

[galdur]

US may lift sanctions against Russia before end of 2016

Jan 17 - 12:01 pm

The sanctions imposed by the US against Russia could be lifted this year, the State Department's Coordinator for Sanctions Policy, Daniel Fried, said in an interview with the Voice of America. According to him, it can happen if the Russian Federation will demonstrate the determination to achieve a settlement of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine through diplomatic means.

The State Department's Coordinator for Sanctions Policy, Daniel Fried, said that if Moscow demonstrates its commitment to a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Donbass, then sanctions against Russia will be removed. And, according to him, it may happen later this year.

"As soon as the Minsk agreements will be implemented, namely elections in Donbass to be held, military activities to stop and the eastern border of Ukraine to be restored, then the sanctions will be lifted," RBC cited him as saying.

"It seems that Russia is now set for a diplomatic solution to the issue. We can only welcome this and hope that it will be possible to achieve it in the current year," Daniel Fried stressed.

Russian president’s aide Vladislav Surkov and the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland, were holding consultations on the Minsk agreements for Ukraine settlement for six hours on Friday in Kaliningrad.

The results of these negotiations were not disclosed, but Vladislav Surkov described the discussions as fruitful and useful. "The consultations we had were quite detailed, fruitful and useful. This was brainstorming of a kind to tap compromise solutions," he said.

The Russian president’s aide said that ideas were voiced on some "sensitive issues" like constitutional reform in Ukraine, security and elections, which can be discussed at the Contact Group or in the Normandy format.

According to State Department spokesman John Kirby, the talks were a continuation of the December meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and US Secretary of State John Kerry.

http://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/US-may-lift-sanctions-against-Russia-before-end-of-2016.html

[bryant.coleman]

That might happen if either Sanders or Trump is elected to the post of the POTUS in 2016. On the other hand, if Hillary is elected to the post, then I can see the situation worsening even more. Anyway... Russia has adjusted itself to the sanctions. The Russians are becoming more and more self-sufficient. The sanctions have actually helped some of the sectors, such as agriculture and forestry.

[galdur]

Not-So-Smart Sanctions
The Failure of Western Restrictions Against Russia

By Emma Ashford

After Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, the Obama administration responded with what has become the go-to foreign policy tool these days: targeted sanctions. The United States placed asset freezes and travel bans on more than one hundred people, mostly cronies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the EU targeted almost a hundred more. The amounts involved have been massive: Bank Rossiya, the Kremlin’s preferred bank, had $572 million frozen in the months after the sanctions were rolled out. Then, in July 2014, when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine allegedly by Russian-backed forces, Washington responded with more severe sanctions aimed at key sectors of the Russian economy, including arms manufacturers, banks, and state firms. In an effort to hit the Kremlin where it hurts, the measures inhibit financing and technology transfers to Russian oil and gas companies, which supply over half of state revenues.

Considering the dire state of Russia’s economy, these sanctions might appear to be working. The value of the ruble has fallen by 76 percent against the dollar since the restrictions were imposed, and inflation for consumer goods hit 16 percent in 2015. That same year, the International Monetary Fund estimated, Russia’s GDP was to shrink by more than three percent.

In fact, however, Western policymakers got lucky: the sanctions coincided with the collapse of global oil prices, worsening, but not causing, Russia’s economic decline. The ruble’s exchange rate has tracked global oil prices more closely than any new sanctions, and many.....

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russian-federation/2015-12-14/not-so-smart-sanctions

[galdur]

But actually the Russians have weathered all this quite nicely. And they haven´t budged in the slightest. They won´t let Crimea go. They won´t abandon the Donbass.

It´s obvious; if sanctions don´t work relatively quickly they´re useless. Russia is back to economic growth and busy selling oil and gas to China.

Best of all; in the west there are very severe headaches. The cost of the sanctions is 0.3% of GDP in Europe, it´s likely that two million jobs will be lost. Banks, especially in France and Austria, have huge outstanding loans in Russia and if collecting on that becomes problematic they could become shaky. The longer the sanctions last the more damage in the west so i guess we´ll be hearing a new record in the next months and the Russians will laugh all the way to the bank.


 

 

[Balthazar]

Impose-lift, impose-lift... This seems like a kind of masturbation addiction.

[galdur]

Impose-lift, impose-lift... This seems like a kind of masturbation addiction.

The classic advantage of the Russians is that they´re always underestimated.  Wouldn´t surprise me if they´ve actually done their best over time to help make this impression of weakness, among politicians and media and others brainwashing their wannabe adversaries. The best chess masters are very very good at helping the opponents into blunders. They are crafty foxes, definitely never to be underestimated.

It´s amazing; men with very big plans anticipate a push-over, and never learn anything from the defeats of their predecessors. And this latest edition isn´t different. It´s always going to be a cakewalk. They´ll soon fold.
But they don´t.

[galdur]

Vital advice for the Russians as well...

----------------------------------------

Khamenei Suspicious of United States after Nuclear Deal

Foreign Policy  by J. Dana Stuster 1:00 pm

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei congratulated Iranian President Hassan Rouhani yesterday on the implementation of the international nuclear agreement this weekend, but cautioned Rouhani to be “vigilant about the deceit and treachery of arrogant countries, especially the United States.” Khamenei’s comments came in the form of a letter, in which he wrote that “the ...

https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/01/19/khamenei-suspicious-of-united-states-after-nuclear-deal/

[bryant.coleman]

Best of all; in the west there are very severe headaches. The cost of the sanctions is 0.3% of GDP in Europe, it´s likely that two million jobs will be lost. Banks, especially in France and Austria, have huge outstanding loans in Russia and if collecting on that becomes problematic they could become shaky. The longer the sanctions last the more damage in the west so i guess we´ll be hearing a new record in the next months and the Russians will laugh all the way to the bank.

The Russian sanctions have completely destroyed the European agricultural industry. There is no market for European pork, and farmers are selling it well below the cost of production. Polish and Lithuanian apples are rotting without any major buyers. The situation is same for Finnish cheese and Greek fruits and vegetables. Icelandic fish exporters are complaining that their exports are down by 50%. Even the French wheat farmers are claiming that they are being elbowed out of the market as a result of increased exports from Russia.