Camilo
4th March 2014, 15:45
Europe’s dependence on Russian oil and gas makes it hard to enact meaningful trade sanctions
As the threat of war hung over Ukraine, the United States, Britain and the European Union warned Russia of economic and diplomatic sanctions unless it ended its military takeover of Crimea but experts doubted they would convince Moscow to back down.
Russia-trade
Despite vowing President Vladimir Putin would face “significant costs” for deploying thousands of Russian troops in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, Western powers appeared to have limited options for responding.
Trade sanctions are unpopular among European countries, which are heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas. Germany is particularly reluctant to get into a sanctions war since it imports more than a third of its oil and gas from Russia.
“It’s not clear how far the European Union can push Russia,” said Seva Gunitsky, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto.
“Europe gets 40% of its natural gas from Russia so any sanctions that it threatens will be hindered by its dependence on Russian natural resources.”
That has left the Western powers proposing gestures that seemed largely symbolic. The EU gave Russia until Thursday to de-escalate the crisis or face suspension of talks on visa liberalization and economic cooperation. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Russians could face travel restrictions, loss of investment and expulsion from the Goup of Eight. In London, Buckingham Palace said Prince Edward had canceled plans to attend the Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia.
For his part, Prime Minister Stephen Harper condemned Mr. Putin’s “military intervention in Ukraine” and urged him to recall his troops to their bases. Canada has withdrawn its ambassador to Moscow, suspended preparations for the G-8 summit, due to be held in Sochi June 4-5, and warned of further “negative consequences.”
Continue reading....http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/03/03/europes-dependence-on-russian-oil-and-gas-makes-it-hard-to-enact-meaningful-trade-sanctions/
As the threat of war hung over Ukraine, the United States, Britain and the European Union warned Russia of economic and diplomatic sanctions unless it ended its military takeover of Crimea but experts doubted they would convince Moscow to back down.
Russia-trade
Despite vowing President Vladimir Putin would face “significant costs” for deploying thousands of Russian troops in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, Western powers appeared to have limited options for responding.
Trade sanctions are unpopular among European countries, which are heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas. Germany is particularly reluctant to get into a sanctions war since it imports more than a third of its oil and gas from Russia.
“It’s not clear how far the European Union can push Russia,” said Seva Gunitsky, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto.
“Europe gets 40% of its natural gas from Russia so any sanctions that it threatens will be hindered by its dependence on Russian natural resources.”
That has left the Western powers proposing gestures that seemed largely symbolic. The EU gave Russia until Thursday to de-escalate the crisis or face suspension of talks on visa liberalization and economic cooperation. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Russians could face travel restrictions, loss of investment and expulsion from the Goup of Eight. In London, Buckingham Palace said Prince Edward had canceled plans to attend the Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia.
For his part, Prime Minister Stephen Harper condemned Mr. Putin’s “military intervention in Ukraine” and urged him to recall his troops to their bases. Canada has withdrawn its ambassador to Moscow, suspended preparations for the G-8 summit, due to be held in Sochi June 4-5, and warned of further “negative consequences.”
Continue reading....http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/03/03/europes-dependence-on-russian-oil-and-gas-makes-it-hard-to-enact-meaningful-trade-sanctions/