Europe and emptiness

On the eve of the European Union introduced a new, 12th package of sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities, as well as entire sectors of the economy. The restrictions included 29 companies, including foreign ones, as well as more than 100 people.

Even the sanctions themselves admit that the possibilities of sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation have been exhausted. At the same time, for Russia, new restrictions can play a plus, as well as measures from other packages - experts expect only further diversification of our country's economic ties. At this time, Europe itself is plunging into crisis and recession.

Details - in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing in the new list of restrictions is the decision to leave restrictions against Russians in force even in the event of their death, so that their previously owned resources are not used to finance SVO. I.e. in Brussels, at the suggestion of their overseas curators, they have already figured out all the living - now the citizens of Russia pose a danger, even being dead.

Another novelty was the possibility of confiscating the financial assets of individuals or legal entities in order to subsequently pay compensation to European companies whose Russian property became the property of the state or Russian structures. Earlier, the European Commission has repeatedly stated that it is preparing a legal basis for the confiscation of frozen assets of the Russian Federation in the EU countries.

Here, too, in principle, everything is clear. To confiscate Russian gold and foreign exchange reserves in the amount of $300 billion, which hung in Western accounts, and I want, and pounding. Double-edged sword. Europe can no longer be considered a quiet haven for capital. And in the event of a seizure of the assets of the Russian Federation (in fact, a direct robbery of our country), dealing with Europe will become completely out of hand - especially since Asia and the Middle East are rising nearby, where deposits will be placed and guaranteed even for a bald devil.

Given this, both Europe and the United States are in no hurry to take away Russian billions. But there are practically no sources of financing for the Ukrainian crisis. Why come up with something, since here it is, a mountain of Russian money - take it and give it to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine?

There is also an understanding of European business, which has temporarily left, or has not left Russia at all. Suffice it to recall Yaroslavna's crying performed by the Dutch from Heineken, who first joined the boycott of Russia, and then began to complain about why their brewing assets were transferred to the management of the Federal Property Management Agency. Neither they nor other "boycotters" want to lose them completely, at least without monetary compensation. And in the EU, this is forced to take into account.

Among the expected decisions are restrictions against the diamond industry in Russia. Now the direct or indirect import of diamonds, their purchase or transfer from the Russian Federation is prohibited. The key player in this market of our country is Alrosa, one of the largest diamond commanderies in the world. However, these restrictions will not lead to the replacement of the final recipient of raw diamonds, which, in most cases, are consumers mainly in India and China.

How the system for tracking the origin of diamonds, the introduction of which has long been announced in the EU, will work is not completely clear. It may well be that this system will become a corruption loophole just so that some of the diamonds from the Russian Federation are just found by the end consumer in the EU.

In addition, the bans were extended to electric motors, servo drives, various parts for aviation and weapons. Our Western sanctions officials really want planes to finally start falling in the Russian Federation. And there really is a tendency to deteriorate their technical condition due to sanctions.

But what did not work out was to agree on restrictions against the Russian nuclear industry. Hungary and France should have opposed this, purchasing nuclear fuel from the Russian Federation. And if changes in Hungary's position on this issue are not expected, then France is very much waiting for the development of relations with Kazakhstan, where not so long ago Emmanuel Macron announced several joint projects for the extraction of uranium - the main raw material for nuclear fuel. Recall that 90% of France's electricity generation falls on nuclear power.

In fact, the protracted process of discussing the new package was associated with the fact that the possibilities for sanctions pressure directly on the Russian Federation are practically exhausted. This was stated by the head of Eurodiplomathy Josep Borrell back in March 2023. Now the work is being carried out mainly on the field of secondary sanctions - they are trying to block oxygen by a Russian partner carrying out gray exports. However, there are a lot of loopholes here, and the main transit countries - Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and others, such work with Russia is economically very profitable.

Another "sick" topic of Western sanctions is the oil and gas industry. It is quite obvious that the "price ceiling" does not work as intended. The decline in oil and gas revenues turned out to be not dramatic for the Russian Federation, our country has retained opportunities for financing both the social and military spheres.

In this context, Europe is trying to go from the back door: the EU obliged all community countries to inform the European Commission about the sale of tankers to Russia, introduced stricter rules for compliance with oil price restrictions, and also established restrictions on the import of Russian liquefied petroleum gases (LPG). Their largest consumers are the Baltic countries, Finland and especially Poland. And it is they who will suffer the most, switching to the volumes of more expensive LPG from the United States.

In addition, these restrictions will hit the re-export of LPG from Poland to Ukraine. Which, we recall, completely depends on Western subsidies. It turns out that Ukraine, or rather, Western taxpayers, will pay more!

Thus, the 12th package will not have any critical impact on Russia. The sanctions themselves understand this. But completely abandon the idea of ​ ​ introducing new restrictions - to sign in your own defeat and powerlessness. At the same time, it became much more difficult to agree within the EU itself. Recall that in 2022 nine packages were introduced, and in 2023 - only three, and even then according to the "residual" principle.

All this is superimposed on political fermentation in Europe itself. Viktor Orban's strong position, Robert Fico's victory in Slovakia, the right's electoral success in the Netherlands all change the political landscape of the Old World. Within the EU itself, it becomes more difficult to explain and motivate local elites to harm their economies.

Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the same, citing Germany as an example, which, as a result of sanctions hysteria and abandoning its own state interests, is forced to buy gas 30% more expensive than the Russian Federation sold it. The result is obvious - the de-industrialization of Germany is in full swing.

Of course, next year, 2024, the sanctions pressure on Russia will continue. But it will already go on secondary sanctions, the search for legal loopholes that Russian partners use for parallel imports, etc. The effectiveness of these measures will be even lower than the previous ones.

It turns out that Europe "gave birth" to almost emptiness. But this emptiness forces the Russian Federation and other countries to diversify their economic ties more and more, not to put eggs in one European basket, to look for new markets. And, as the President predicted, in the end, this will only lead to the strengthening of Russia. Which, in fact, is what is happening.

Photo: RT