Russia Was Prepared to Withstand Sanctions. Why Wasn't Europe Prepared to Impose

[justdimin]

You have stated the most obvious, that's actually what the OP is pointing out. Russia was more than ready for the sanctions before they execute the attack. They knew they possessed one of the world's necessity and European countries had their oil reliance grown since the last few years. That alone could be enough for Russia to withstand whatever economic sanctions the US or the European countries impose to them.
Though these sanctions their facing have affected them, but they have options to avoid the major effect of these sanctions.

Russia knew that they would attack, and even though west already guessed it would happen, they didn't actually know that they would have to put sanctions, they weren't ready to even put sanctions. I mean imagine a world where you need something from a nation and you threaten that nation by saying you won't buy it if they go on, and yet you have no other choice so you still do. That is what west did, it is basically humiliating when you think about it.

All in all, it is really not that much of a big deal, you do not have to fear Russia because even though they beat these sanctions for the time being, if they keep being like this, they will be left alone to china alone and nobody else eventually.

[Tony116]

Yes, there is an opinion that only an oil embargo can destroy the Russian economy.  It is from the sale of oil that Russia receives the main revenues to the state budget.

Oil prices do not depend on the natural season (winter or summer).  Oil is widely used for the manufacture of gasoline, as well as in the petrochemical industry. 

Are Western countries ready to impose an oil embargo? 

I don't have an answer to this question.  The United States declares its principled position to deprive the Russian Federation of all its oil and gas revenues.  However, the EU may have a different opinion on this matter. 

At the same time, in my opinion, the Russian Federation has huge problems.  First of all, it is the complete absence of a positive picture of the future of Russia and its citizens. 

Few people realize this now, but a social society can collapse faster than the country actually runs out of resources and serious economic problems begin.  People cannot live without hope. 

And psychologically, people break down faster than machine tools and machines.

Oil and gas is the backbone of the Russian economy, as long as Europe dares to ban it Russia will quickly decline.
So far, Europe has issued a fifth round of sanctions against Russia, but none targeting Russian crude oil and gas. All claims to cut off gas supplies from Russia are only on paper and they have not found a solution. According to the statement, they will stop depending on Russian energy by 2027. That is actually quite far away.
 The US is a country that is less dependent on Russian oil, so it does not hesitate to stop importing from Russia, but that will also have an impact on the US.

[DrBeer]

....
Oil and gas is the backbone of the Russian economy, as long as Europe dares to ban it Russia will quickly decline.
So far, Europe has issued a fifth round of sanctions against Russia, but none targeting Russian crude oil and gas. All claims to cut off gas supplies from Russia are only on paper and they have not found a solution. According to the statement, they will stop depending on Russian energy by 2027. That is actually quite far away.
 The US is a country that is less dependent on Russian oil, so it does not hesitate to stop importing from Russia, but that will also have an impact on the US.

Today I was surprised to read in the news that the EU is ready to vote for the introduction of an embargo on the purchase of oil, gas and coal from Russia!
Further it will be interesting! Russia will have to sell oil / gas / coal for a penny to China and India. These countries will not support the embargo, they need Russia as a slave-raw material appendage. And Russia will do everything that India and China order - there is no way out, because. you can not take and pause the production of gas and oil. Most likely, India and China will pay partly in their local currency, so that Russia is also tied to their products.
In short, we are waiting for very interesting changes in the international hydrocarbon market!

[LUCKMCFLY]

The Russia was the powerful country as like America, China. So other country was not starting war against this two. All the country including America, they just doing financial support to the war for Ukraine. But still Russia moving up with the strategies. And the people of many developing country was suffering a lot now.The reason for this was very simple.The oil price was keep on increasing in most developing countries

In this war, Russia and Ukraine were directly involved, but many people did not realize that behind the back there were several countries that were indirectly involved, namely those you have mentioned, both the United States and China.
indeed this war has an impact on many things, one of which is the most pronounced is the price of oil,
oil prices are really crazy and hope it can go down soon

I'm ready to disappoint you .. China, the USA, it's all "far-fetched", or is the result of what started not a month ago. I am a citizen of Ukraine, and for many years, since 2000, I worked in a company whose office was in Donetsk. So I inform you - since 2000 (and possibly earlier), Russia has been actively promoting the idea of ??a "Russian world" in Ukraine, especially in regions where most of the population was once resettled from the RSFSR on the territory of Ukraine, where before that, Soviet power destroyed the local population. Yes, you guessed it - these are today's territories where the virtual states of the DPR / LPR have been created. I am sure that the same work was carried out in Belarus, and possibly in other countries that were once part of the USSR. And all why? Because the insane Kremlin dwarf suddenly decided that he is the messiah, and must collect back all "the republics of the USSR and recreate it anew!". Those. revive the corpse, and create, from the forcibly assembled "republics" of a sort of Frankenstein monster. You laugh in vain! There was no USA and China, there was and is a crazy aging under-alpha male, with complexes not even of Napoleon, but of God! And all these "official" reasons for starting a new round of war against Ukraine, like joining NATO or threatening Russia, are bluff and fakes!

Well that is an argument that can be believed and who better than being a Ukrainian citizen. The truth is that the people who live day to day in Ukraine are the ones who know well where everything comes from, what happens is that the news tends to be very tabloid, and they don't really know what the real story is, so this means that from All this had been cooking for a long time, for me the best excuse for all this to explode was NATO and everything that has to do with what is currently happening. The Soviet Union, for me, is latent in Russia, Belarus and I think they want to take Ukraine because when it existed it was the heart of the Soviet Union, I think this is what they want to recover, and China shares a certain ideology with Russia and that is why it can have some kind of affinity.

[Smartprofit]

Yes, I think it's a disaster for Russia. 

The oil embargo means the complete degradation of Russia's industry and economy.  Many now remember Iran and North Korea.  However, Russia is not Iran or North Korea.  This is a huge country with a very harsh climate. 

Russia, in order to function as a state, needs a technological and developed infrastructure.  These are aviation, rail freight and passenger transportation, communications, the Internet, heat and electricity transmission. 

Besides, Russia is a European country.  Yes, it may imitate an Asian country or talk about a special development path, but in fact it is a European country. 

People are not ready to live outside the achievements of civilization and wipe their asses with burdock leaves (no matter what the propagandists say). 

Another thing is that the oil embargo is a very serious step and perhaps European countries will not dare to take such actions. 

In any case, the situation is very worrying.

[zasad@]

The sanctions have cracked. The United States suddenly allowed the supply of hardware for the Internet and telecom to Russia
https://europe-cities.com/2022/04/08/the-sanctions-have-cracked-the-united-states-suddenly-allowed-the-supply-of-hardware-for-the-internet-and-telecom-to-russia/
If it's not fake, then I find it very funny.

[ajochems]

Really interesting news,me too don’t know it was real.But if it so,their will be huge hustle gonna happened.Because how the United States was changed his policy towards Russia for their economy.And with my knowledge,Americans may do this for the tactical move.They may keep some hidden things to monitor the Russia.But they will not do any direct support to Russia was my opinion.

[zasad@]

https://iz.ru/1317629/mariia-frolova/raskruchivanie-gaek-pochemu-ssha-reshili-oslabit-sanktcii
This information is published by major Russian newspapers.

Official reason:"to ensure a high level of route redundancy for passing traffic of various types, and secondly, it forces operators to find the shortest ways to reduce the cost of the service and increase the transmission speed."
Unofficial reason: "Possibility of further espionage"
It's even more fun

[Smartprofit]

The sanctions have cracked. The United States suddenly allowed the supply of hardware for the Internet and telecom to Russia
https://europe-cities.com/2022/04/08/the-sanctions-have-cracked-the-united-states-suddenly-allowed-the-supply-of-hardware-for-the-internet-and-telecom-to-russia/
If it's not fake, then I find it very funny.

By the way, I read that the Russian office of Huawei sent all Russian employees on vacation. 

Huawei is a Chinese company that supplies and maintains telecommunications equipment.  Previously, this company came under US sanctions.  Now she is (probably) afraid to work in Russia. 

Why did the US withdraw telecommunications equipment from anti-Russian sanctions?  Complex issue.... 

Perhaps the US does not want the informational isolation of Russian citizens.  Perhaps the United States is afraid of destroying the infrastructure of the Russian Federation too quickly.  This may be accompanied by man-made disasters (including at nuclear power plants).  Nobody in the world needs chaos in such a huge country as Russia. 

In addition, the United States understands that a radical weakening of Russia will lead to the strengthening of China's position.

[Kakmakr]

Well the Ukraine has Europe's third-largest shale gas reserves at 1.2 trillion cubic meters (tcm). There are two potentially large shale gas fields. The Yuzivska gas field located in Donetsk Oblast (province) and Kharkiv Oblast; and the Olesska gas field in Lviv Oblast and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.

Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas_in_Ukraine

Russia ...wants those Gas resources and they do not want the West to fund the development of those resources, because that will threaten their market share in Europe. The current conflict is not about Political influence.... but rather about "Money"

Europe should have reduced their dependency on Russian Oil and Gas, but it was convenient for them and it was a cheaper source for Oil and Gas.... but this conflict has hastened their efforts to do it now. (It was the kick in the butt that they needed) 

[zasad@]

Well the Ukraine has Europe's third-largest shale gas reserves at 1.2 trillion cubic meters (tcm). There are two potentially large shale gas fields. The Yuzivska gas field located in Donetsk Oblast (province) and Kharkiv Oblast; and the Olesska gas field in Lviv Oblast and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.

Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas_in_Ukraine

Russia ...wants those Gas resources and they do not want the West to fund the development of those resources, because that will threaten their market share in Europe. The current conflict is not about Political influence.... but rather about "Money"

Europe should have reduced their dependency on Russian Oil and Gas, but it was convenient for them and it was a cheaper source for Oil and Gas.... but this conflict has hastened their efforts to do it now. (It was the kick in the butt that they needed) 

I have heard that shale gas production brings great harm to the environment and agriculture, so many European countries do not produce this gas on their territory. They bought more of this gas from other countries, and in return they sold expensive gas production equipment.

[DrBeer]

Well the Ukraine has Europe's third-largest shale gas reserves at 1.2 trillion cubic meters (tcm). There are two potentially large shale gas fields. The Yuzivska gas field located in Donetsk Oblast (province) and Kharkiv Oblast; and the Olesska gas field in Lviv Oblast and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.

Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas_in_Ukraine

Russia ...wants those Gas resources and they do not want the West to fund the development of those resources, because that will threaten their market share in Europe. The current conflict is not about Political influence.... but rather about "Money"

Europe should have reduced their dependency on Russian Oil and Gas, but it was convenient for them and it was a cheaper source for Oil and Gas.... but this conflict has hastened their efforts to do it now. (It was the kick in the butt that they needed) 

I have heard that shale gas production brings great harm to the environment and agriculture, so many European countries do not produce this gas on their territory. They bought more of this gas from other countries, and in return they sold expensive gas production equipment.

Hydraulic fracturing was used in the USSR and is used in Russia, but the only limitation has been and remains technological backwardness, because in this area there is complete dependence on Western technologies.


"In the Soviet Union, the first hydraulic fracturing began in 1952. The peak of the use of hydraulic fracturing in the USSR fell on 1958–1962, when the number of operations exceeded 1500 per year (and in 1959 three thousand operations were performed). With the discovery of large high-rate fields in Western Siberia, the use of hydraulic fracturing was practically abandoned - "light" oil made it possible to do without additional stimulation methods. And in the meantime, technology has developed in the world.

During the period of lack of demand, domestic equipment and experience in the use of hydraulic fracturing lagged far behind. Back in 1980, at a meeting of the scientific and technical council of the USSR Ministry of Gas Industry, the head of the laboratory of SevKavNIPIgaz D.F. Matveev noted: “Hydraulic fracturing is widely used abroad and, unfortunately, on a much smaller scale in the domestic gas industry. This is due to a number of reasons, the main of which are: lack of developed technology; very limited choice of working fluids; the absence in the initial period of industrial testing of pumping units with high productivity and high pressure, which did not make it possible to carry out work with significant efficiency; in connection with the exploitation of high-yield deposits, the issue of increasing the efficiency of developing low-yield and low-permeability reservoirs was not so acute.

In recent history, hydraulic fracturing in Russian fields has become the prerogative of foreign service companies. Domestic specialists are working in this direction, but so far, new technological trends are still coming from abroad."

[minairia3]

The ''west'' was not preparing for this, for sure, because the threat of war on the European continent was so unimaginable (at least in this part of Europe) that they completely ignored the threat. However, it's not just the European countries ignoring it, the countries that are big importers of grain from Ukraine and Russia also were caught off guard with Yemen and Egipt being at risk the most, but also China, who will not feel the issue that much, but still had huge imports of grain from Ukraine. However, whatever preparations Russia made for imminent sanctions, that does not mean that they won't be severely affected by Europe turning away from its oil and gas exports in the near future. Especially if Russia loses the annexed Ukrainian territory that is filled with natural resources.

Russia's move means it will not withdraw from the war without completely crippling Ukraine and occupying it. But this is not the only loss to Ukraine, Russia itself, however, is facing losses.

Because even if Russia started the war,
Ukraine, awakened by the indomitable will to save itself, has begun to retaliate, and no one can stop them when a nation fights for its own survival, for its own independence.
As a result, countless people in Ukraine are dying, and Russia's military power is dwindling.

Moreover, Russia and Ukraine are the first major importers of food.
Therefore, as a result of continuous war, food grains and croplands will be destroyed and there will be a shortage of food grains. And there will be a crisis of food grains and an increase in prices all over the world.
In this way, the inflation problem will go one step further.

It is imposing sanctions on various European countries and Russia. Notable among them are the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. And more sanctions are expected to follow.

Now the question is why the sanctions did not go the way of implementation? In this case, it can be said that there is a lack of unity.

Russia has some problems with almost all of the countries that are imposing sanctions. There are also a number of countries with which Russia has good relations, such as Italy and Austria, that are reluctant to impose any sanctions against Russia.

[Minecache]

Yeah, after reading this and seeing the graphs it really seems russia was planning this since very long? What if everyone today is just blind folded since the last Ukriane attack 8 years ago? Russia might have built the internal strategy right after they backed up the previous war. They might have projected the whole plot for example, how europe will react with the war breakout, how america will react which is most rival country for them or other way round.
The steadiness is due to Russia's richness in the fossil resources. They know world wants them and specifically the neighbouring European countries. Europe surely created too much dependency on the Russia and all sudden the they went rogue.
I think it is one of those strategies for war where you press the most weak point of others and then torn them inside out.

This isn't something they "planned", I mean of course they probably knew what they would do "in case..." type of situation, but they lived with this idea basically. Ukraine had places where there were plenty of Russians, and places where basically Russia is loved like crazy, and they wanted to get those places. Obviously it doesn't make sense for Ukraine to give their lands to Russia, so this means both knew that they would be in a war one day or another.

This doesn't mean they knew when it would happen, but they definitely knew that one day it would happen. If you consider that as planned, then it was planned, but I would say being ready, and not planned. Planned means they aimed at doing this, being ready means they would if something happened but won't if that won't happen.

I also could not agree that Russia had planned the war long ago. You could say that there was a prediction of a war going on between Russia and Ukraine over the issues.
Not only Russia or Ukraine but also full international politics could predict that war was imminent.

Russia had already predicted the war and realized what sanctions could be imposed on it.
And maybe that's why he's ready to face all the sanctions.
It is the countries that have imposed sanctions, but in some cases, they will be also face problems.

E.g.
1. We know how rich Russia is in natural gas and fuel oil. Now European countries can cut gas and fuel imports to hurt Russia's economy. But they will suffer. The oil crisis will hit some countries because oil and gas imported from Russia meet one-third of the country's demand. And alternative routes other than imports from Russia have been considered. But finding an alternative road is not so easy. Until then, the countries will face many problems. Especially Germany.

2. Russia can be called food grain and reserves. And if their food grain exports are also banned, there will be food crises in many countries.

[STT]

Its more about wheat then gas reserves I think.   Even UK has gas reserves available to drill and extract, the only thing about Ukraine having gas is to close down that resource as being an competition but across the world substantial reserves would remain anyway like Brazil and Australian have (newly established) vast amounts available to ship out as LNG.   Across land and via Pipeline perhaps Ukraine is a slightly more available resource but I dont think thats enough motivation for a war.
  Wheat supplies to Egypt and the middle east is vital to their economy as it feeds the poor via government subsidy so that would be more vital and just in general the ports Ukraine has are key.  Also Crimea without its attachment to the mainland has trouble getting various basics like drinking water, its cut off apparently and securing regions of Ukraine close by is no loss for Russia even if they do not conquer the whole country.

[Ozero]

Russia's readiness to resist the current sanctions, which, although quite powerful, are not yet completely complete, is another myth of Russian propaganda. It is calculated on the fact that the international community, which also suffers certain losses from them, will get tired and lift these sanctions. Russia is not ready for them at all. Recently, the State Duma of Russia was surprised to learn that even ordinary nails are not manufactured in Russia. What can we say about high technologies.
During the war with Ukraine and heavy losses in military equipment (only Russia lost almost 800 tanks in Ukraine), Uralvagonzavod, which produces tanks, was forced to stop in Russia. All due to the fact that the supply of some components from abroad has stopped. And so it is with almost everything. In Russia, in the presence of the forests of Siberia, even their own paper is not made. They are used to selling oil and gas, but no one even thought about industry and a closed production cycle. By the end of the year, we will be able to see the results of the sanctions in all their glory.

[DrBeer]

...
Russia had already predicted the war and realized what sanctions could be imposed on it.
And maybe that's why he's ready to face all the sanctions.
It is the countries that have imposed sanctions, but in some cases, they will be also face problems.
....

This is the biggest mistake!!
1. Putin was absolutely sure that the US/EU confrontation would not allow them to coordinately introduce such a number and such sanctions. He was absolutely sure that his obedient pet dogs like Merkel, Macron and similar politicians, bought or caught on the hook of compromising evidence, would destroy any US initiatives regarding sanctions. It turned out - miscalculated. Even these politicians, having seen the scale of sadism with which Putin is waging a terrorist war against Ukraine, realized that this must be resisted.
2. Putin, being a petty tyrant, always demanded from his entourage only that information that caressed his ears. His entourage decided - why do something if you can just keep the crazy Fuhrer in an information bubble and give him fairy tales that he likes. This is how it turned out in the end - both about the stable powerful economy of Russia, and about the second most powerful army in the world, and about "Ukraine does not have its own army, and everyone will scatter when they see our army"

[Sir Legend]

This is because Russia has the power to suppress Europe, as we know that Russia is a producer of oil and gas which is supplied to Europe, Europe's dependence on Russian gas and oil has made Europe powerless by whatever Russia did, even a few years ago when Russia raised gas and oil prices significantly but European countries could only follow suit.

[Sithara007]

This is because Russia has the power to suppress Europe, as we know that Russia is a producer of oil and gas which is supplied to Europe, Europe's dependence on Russian gas and oil has made Europe powerless by whatever Russia did, even a few years ago when Russia raised gas and oil prices significantly but European countries could only follow suit.

Just checked the price difference on Russian crude oil, and it is inching towards the $40 per barrel level. Saudi crude is trading at $110 per barrel, while the Russian crude is being sold at $70 per barrel. Even at this level, the Russian treasury is receiving a lot of foreign currency through tax receipts (almost 90% of the revenue above $27 per barrel goes as tax, if I am not wrong). In order to damage the Russian economy, the price level of Russian crude should come down to $40-$45 levels, and looking at the current scenario, that is very unlikely.

[inthelongrun]

Although EU always wanted to diversify their source of energy. I was optimistic that Nord Stream 2 would further eliminate a future conflict between Russia and EU. But that didn't stopped Russian aggression towards Ukraine. Russia is risking billions of dollars on its Ukraine invasion while western Europe is bleeding itself from their own sanctions on Russia. In the long run, western Europe should be fine. Russian economy will continue to drop reason why it needs a deal as quick as possible while they still have some cards to negotiate. The more arms will continue to arrive in Ukraine, the more difficult for the Russians.