EU And Washington’s New Sanctions On Russia Only To “Save Face”

The United States and the European Union have extended the list of sanctions against Russia after accusing Moscow of not moving a finger to help the results of the negotiations last and instead allowing the crisis in Ukraine to continue. The White House today announced a new round of “targeted” sanctions against Russian individuals and companies as well as restrictions on certain exports to Russia.

For its part, the European Union agreed today to expand the list of 15 Russian persons who will have their assets frozen and who will be prohibited from getting American visas or entering the EU territory.

The decision was made by the 28 ambassadors to the European Union, after they celebrated a special meeting in Brussels. Over the weekend, the G7 agreed to adopt new sanctions against Russia for its support of the pro-Russian groups that have been protesting Kiev’s government since the start of the conflict in February.

In a statement, the White House spokesman, Jim Carrey, reported the new measures against seven Russian government officials, “including two members of the inner circle of President Putin” and also against seventeen companies linked to him. But these new measures to poke Moscow will have little or no positive results for the U.S. or the EU, Putin has said

The announcement of the new sanctions were made while President Barack Obama was on his Asian tour. Obama arrogantly spoke about the sanctions saying that they are a response to Russia’s non-compliance with what he called its “international commitments” to alleviate the crisis in Ukraine.

The United States “is ready to impose even higher costs” if Russia continues “provocations” in Ukraine, Washington’s sources say.

In addition to the sanctions, the U.S. government has revoked the export licenses for high-tech goods, according to the details of the new measures. Some of these sanctions are related to limitations to materials and equipment directed to the Russian military.

While in Manila, Philippines, Obama announced the additional sanctions against Russia stating that they affect the high-tech exports to the Russian military industry.

Washington had more than ten days threatening Russia with adopting this new round of sanctions, which the U.S. government had already “prepared” in advance and that it was ready to apply if Russia did not take steps to reduce tensions in eastern Ukraine.

Previously, on two occasions, the U.S. announced sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials, including people of Putin’s inner circle and against entities of both countries for supporting the Kremlin in the annexation of Crimea. Neither the old nor the new sanctions will exercise a great deal of stress on Russia because these sanctions are simple public stunts to ‘save face’. That is, neither does the U.S. not the EU can afford to sanction Russia.

Both the United States depend — directly or indirectly — on Russian economic activity. The EU is heavily dependent on Russian gas and even Ukraine is fully dependent on Russian gas and oil. The government in Moscow has shown restrain against the U.S. and the EU,  which it could really hurt should it decide to stop the flow of gas and oil to Europe and to completely dump U.S. dollar holdings.

Experts have warned that Russia is working with China to slowly get rid of the U.S. dollar, a move that could seriously hurt the dollar’s status as the world’s “reserve” currency. This status is already shaky, so a significant move from China and Russia to carry out bilateral negotiations without U.S. dollars could accelerate the collapse of the American currency even further.

Luis R. Miranda is the Founder and Editor of The Real Agenda. His 16 years of experience in Journalism include television, radio, print and Internet news. Luis obtained his Journalism degree from Universidad Latina de Costa Rica, where he graduated in Mass Media Communication in 1998. He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcasting from Montclair State University in New Jersey. Among his most distinguished interviews are: Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres and James Hansen from NASA Space Goddard Institute. Read more about Luis.