More sanctions against Russia further harm Europe, ‘keep crisis from ending’
More sanctions against Russia further harm Europe, ‘keep crisis from ending’
To keep the Russia-Ukraine crisis a long way from ending is a clear goal of the US and Western countries as the US and the EU are considering more sanctions against Russia after the unverified alleged “war crimes” in Bucha were exposed. Analysts said on Tuesday that sanctions will not end the crisis but would bring huge harm to both the EU and Russia, especially Germany, the biggest EU economy.
The US will benefit the most, and this would be a big and hard test for EU leaders on how to balance the economy and handle the ongoing crisis, they said.
The EU is working on a new package of sanctions against Russia that is likely to restrict the leasing of airplanes and the import and export of products like jet fuel, steel products and luxury goods, two sources with knowledge of the discussions told CNBC on Monday. CNN reported that European officials have signaled they could sanction Russia’s energy exports after images emerged of “mass killings of civilians in Bucha,” near the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
The plan to increase sanctions is dividing the West since Germany, the biggest economy of the EU, is heavily reliant on energy imports from Russia. Businesses in Germany worry that the country “could face its biggest economic crisis since 1945,” while Poland blamed that Germany is “the main roadblock” to imposing tougher sanctions on Russia, Reuters reported.
Worsening situation
After Ukrainian forces recaptured the city of Bucha as a result of Russia’s shift of military activities from around Kiev, images of humanitarian crisis were exposed. Ukraine claims the “mass killings” were conducted by Russian troops while Russia strongly denies such accusation and said the Ukrainian government is “manipulating the media to smear Russia.” The UN has called for an independent investigation, and the EU on Monday announced that it will send a team of investigators to Ukraine to probe alleged war crimes on the ground.
Apart from sanctions, major EU powers Germany and France said they were expelling dozens of Russian diplomats on Monday in response to Moscow’s alleged “war crimes against civilians” in Ukraine.
The US is the one that is unwilling to see positive signals at the negotiation in Turkey, and now the alleged “war crimes” in Bucha have ruined the positive trend toward peace, and the hostility between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the tensions between the EU and Russia have reemerged. “This makes the situation return to the playbook that favors the US,” said Wang Yiwei, director of the institute of international affairs at the Renmin University of China.
If the EU finally decides to impose more sanctions against Russia, EU members would need to purchase more expensive energy and weapons from the US, and the business environment in the EU, or the eurozone will be worsening due to high energy prices, increasing numbers of refugees and rising inflation, even stagflation, and this serves the US interests to seriously damage both its strategic competitor Russia and the “unnamed major economic competitor” – the EU, said a Beijing-based expert on international relations who asked not to be named.
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