On April 6, 2018, the United States of America introduced a new package of sanctions against Russia against major Russian businessmen and their firms. This led to the collapse of financial and stock markets, and the exchange rate of the ruble against the dollar and the euro updated the lows of recent years. In response, the Russian government has prepared a response to US sanctions.
Complete list of responses
The bill under the number 441399 - 7 "On measures of influence (counteraction) on unfriendly actions of the United States and (or) other foreign states" on April 13 was submitted for consideration to the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
The bill provides for the following restrictive measures directly related to the flow of goods and services of American origin:
- Restriction or prohibition of export-import of agricultural products, raw materials and food.
- Restricting or banning the import of tobacco and alcoholic beverages from the United States.
- Restricting the import or banning the import from the United States of medicines that have Russian counterparts.
- Prohibition of state and municipal purchases of technological equipment and software.
- Termination of Legal Protection of Trademarks Owned by US Citizens.
- A ban on labor immigration of skilled workers from the United States.
- Increase in fees for flying over the airspace of the Russian Federation.
- Termination of cooperation with the United States and American companies in the nuclear industry, aircraft construction, rocket-propulsion industry, consulting, audit and legal services. Moreover, Russia and Russian companies will cease to cooperate not only with American companies, but also with all organizations whose capital by more than 25%, in one way or another, belongs to the United States.
- American companies and all companies whose capital is more than 25% of American capital are prohibited from participating in the purchase, sale and privatization of federal property of the Russian Federation.
- The list of goods and services subject to restrictions may well be expanding.
- Perhaps a list of US citizens who will be prohibited from staying on the territory of the Russian state will be drawn up.
And although the decision to introduce specific measures from the listed list will be made directly by the President of the Russian Federation, some of the sanctions will still be introduced.
The deadline for preparing the bill for consideration in the first reading is tentatively scheduled for May 2018. According to a number of experts, the deputies will not rush to adopt this bill.
Prohibitions and restrictions on the import of sanctioned goods will not apply to individuals-citizens of the Russian Federation, provided that they are purchased for personal use.
Expert comments
Regarding the ban on the import of alcohol and tobacco products from the United States, many experts agree that only wealthy Russians who can afford American wine and whiskey, which cost at least $ 10 per bottle, will suffer from this.
The ban on cooperation in the field of aircraft construction and the rocket-propulsion industry will hurt the domestic VSMPO-Avisma and the American Boeing. It's no secret that American Boeings are built entirely from Russian titanium supplied by the VSMPO-Avisma concern. It will be difficult for a domestic manufacturer to find such a large buyer for titanium, while Boeing will find it difficult to find a source of the same cheap and necessary titanium.
Restrictions and bans on the trade of agricultural products, raw materials, foodstuffs, technological equipment will hit the Russian economy, because it is this category of goods that represents the basis of Russian supplies to the United States and Russian purchases from this country.
A ban on attracting US labor migrants will mean that 92,400 Americans who are registered in the Russian Federation and who come to work will be forced to leave. And these are, in the bulk, highly qualified specialists.
The termination of legal protection of trademarks owned by Americans will mean that in the territory of the Russian Federation it will be possible to produce any goods under American logos without the permission of the Americans themselves. For example, it will be possible to produce gadgets under the iPhone brand without taking into account the opinion of Apple.
Implications of retaliation
On April 13, 2018, after the list of retaliatory measures was announced in the State Duma, the Russian stock markets again entered the “red zone”. This means that there is no painless way out of the sanctions war between the Russian Federation and the United States, and there will never be.
However, according to opinion polls, many Russians approve of such actions by their government. The main thing is that goods that have nothing to replace are not included in the sanctions list. For example, some types of drugs.
A detailed list of drugs that will be banned will be prepared by the government in the near future. They promise that it will not include those drugs whose analogues are not produced in our country. If drug sanctions go into effect, it will be an unprecedented case of health restrictions.
