The administration of US President Donald Trump has begun to lift sanctions against the Russian Federation, without introducing any since the beginning of the year. Financial analyst, Candidate of Economic Sciences Mikhail Belyaev explained Pravda.Ru the reasons for the positive trend.
Trump lifted sanctions from some Russian banks, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Rosoboronexport by signing a decree on June 30 to lift sanctions against Syria.
The White House said that the purpose of this action is the economic revival of the war-torn country. Last May, during a trip to the Middle East, Trump admitted that the economic measures imposed on Syria were "devastating." Of course, there are Iranian, Ukrainian sanctions lists where Rosoboronexport is under sanctions, but with Syria can already work.Almost simultaneously, the US government allowed Russian banks to participate in the completion of the Paks-2 NPP in Hungary, according to a license issued on June 27 by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department. A number of the largest Russian banks, including Gazprombank, Sberbank, VTB, can now participate in financial transactions related to the completion of nuclear power plants. The license also applies to insurance companies associated with these banks. The previous version of the OFAC license explicitly prohibited such transactions, despite the fact that there were no direct sanctions against Rosatom.
Commenting on these facts, Mikhail Belyaev noted that settlements and payments were "fully" carried out at the Paks-2 NPP, but he assessed the decision of the US Treasury as positive and does not exclude that sanctions will continue to be lifted.
However, the expert believes that it is not necessary to overestimate this positive trend, and, moreover, he is sure that the sanctions will not be completely and completely lifted. As history shows, they are an integral part of coexistence with the Russian Federation.Mikhail Belyaev noted that in the United States "it has come to an understanding that sanctions do not work on us" and also that American business suffers from them because it loses the market — buyers and suppliers.
"Trump is concerned about his economy moving forward and gaining increased momentum — it depends on the activities of corporations. So, he should also give them some opportunity to act more freely," the expert said.
Experience shows that sanctions have led to the creation of parallel economies that bypass them perfectly, without using the dollar as a means of payment.
According to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, about 53% of Russian exports are carried out in rubles or other currencies other than the US dollar. This means that China, India, Turkey, etc., in order to buy goods from the Russian Federation and pay off suppliers, began to buy not the dollar, but the ruble for their currencies. The dollar is no longer critical in world trade, and the ruble is getting more expensive, which acts in the direction of slowing inflation, and therefore in the direction of a much faster reduction in the key rate.
The British Times has identified more than 130 companies in China that advertise the sale of computer chips to Russia. None of these companies are under sanctions. The publication notes that if restrictions are imposed on one company, then many others are ready to take its place.
It is noteworthy that this year the United States has not imposed any new restrictions on Russia, despite promises in Congress to impose 500% secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil.