A new round of tensions in Russian-American relations has been marked by the expulsion of hundreds of American diplomats from Russia in response to new sanctions imposed by the United States Senate on Russian companies working in the field of oil and gas. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the decision to reduce the number of employees of the us diplomatic mission to 755. At the same time, the President expressed hope for improving bilateral relations, not to mention, however, about the possibility of such a development soon.
The Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation explained that the American side informed about the need to reduce the number of its diplomatic representatives in Russia, so their numbers equal the number of Russian diplomats in America. During a telephone conversation with Rex Tillerson, the Minister of foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov did not hesitate to say that Moscow has taken all possible measures to improve relations and showed composure in front of the face of American provocations.
Speaking about the possibility of a new response from the Russian side, Deputy Minister of foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Ryabkov said that the Russian response to us sanctions is not limited to this step. At the same time, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia said that Russia was forced to respond in a similar way to the us sanctions that are illegal and groundless, and Russian-American relations, according to Basil, Nebuni are “at the bottom”, which was not even during the cold war. Nevertheless, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN stressed that Moscow and Washington can’t work without each other, especially in matters of peace and security.
Last Thursday, the U.S. Senate approved the bill on a new package of anti-Russian sanctions. The document will come into force after signing by President Donald trump. Sanctions will affect companies operating in the oil and gas industries and heavy industries. Businesses can deny to American loans and to use American technology. This in turn can lead to the fact that such giants as “Gazprom” and “Rosneft”, which is one-third owned by the government, will face difficulties in the implementation of major projects, including the “Nord stream-2” and “Turkish stream”.
Russian analysts argue that such measures by the US, obviously, intended to “clear a space” for sale of liquefied natural gas of its own production to Europe at a higher price.
The project “Turkish stream”, the implementation of which began after the normalization of economic relations between Russia and Turkey, involves the laying of two pipelines with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters per year each. One of the pipelines designed to supply gas to Turkish consumers, while the other for gas supplies to Europe. If the project is implemented, it will be possible to say that Turkey’s aspiration to become a regional center of gas transit came true. At the same time, Russia will be able to become less dependent on Ukraine in the issue of gas transportation. Finally, the construction of “Turkish stream” will be an impressive message to the West that will demonstrate that Russia is able to implement projects of global scale in spite of the sanctions.
It should also be noted that the US Senate approved a bill that would prevent the President from Donald Trump on their own to ease sanctions against Russia. By results of voting the bill was supported 419 congressmen, while three voted against. This bill is one of the first approved and the Democratic and Republican parties. This document also provides for the introduction of new sanctions against Iran and North Korea. The consensus on the final text of the bill was complicated by the accusations made by the House of representatives and the U.S. Senate.
After the official presentation of the document to the President of the United States he will have ten days to sign or reject the law. Press Secretary of the White house Sarah Sanders said that the President will familiarize with the text of the bill, not specifying, however, whether it will be accepted or rejected. In turn, the American legislators who participated in drafting this bill, I doubt the possibility of using the presidential power of veto against the document, which was approved by a majority of the members of the house of representatives and the U.S. Senate.
Hope for a thaw in Russian-American relations began to weaken after the adoption by the House of representatives a bill providing for the introduction of new sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea. It became clear that the last person who can halt this process, is Donald trump. However, contrary to expectations, the White house took the initiative of congressmen, and White house Director of public relations Anthony of Scaramucci said that the President is unlikely to apply the right of suspensive veto and return it for reconsideration to a tightening of sanctions.
Russian analysts say that cooperation between the defense departments of the USA and Russia can save the deteriorating relations between the two countries and underline the importance of maintaining military communication channels between the two countries. Experts also emphasize that the military leadership of the two countries occupies a different position than politicians, more harsh in their judgments. In addition, analysts expressed the view that if the Ministry of defense of Russia strictly adheres to generally accepted norms, the basic principle of the Ministry of foreign Affairs is to build a dialogue. This same trait characterizes the American side. The military of the two countries may agree, however must promote the diplomatic and political lines.
The experts also claim that recent developments in Russian-American relations caused discontent of Europe actions of the United States. According to the EU, the damage they do to themselves, adversely affect relations with Russia and forced to think about whether Donald trump to put an end to the possibility of normalization of relations with Moscow, and, furthermore, to harm America, which suffer from Russian retaliatory measures.
Back to the Good Ole Days!
Big Guys Fight For Small Fish!
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— St. PT Barnum (@StPTBarnum) may 14, 2014
Russian Newspapers write that most European countries support the us sanctions, however, there is among these States, and those who just want to please Washington. At the same time, “the Association of European business”, said that the new sanctions do not receive support because they can cause a serious decrease in production and a reduction in the number of jobs in the relevant sectors of the economy.
According to the permanent representative to the EU Vitaly Chizhov, European countries are considering an option in which the American law will not apply to the territory of the EU. We also consider the possibility the termination of funding American companies to European banks. However, Germany chose a different path, and it seems that she’s going to leave the project “Northern stream-2”. On July 27, the Federal network Agency of Germany, which is in charge of communication lines, communication lines and power grids, issued an official statement with the evaluation of the project “Northern stream-2”. It is assumed that the volume of Russian gas exported to European countries, will be doubled and will reach 110 billion cubic meters annually. At the same time, the official report contains the information that five different expansion projects “North stream” is still considered unreliable. For this reason, they were not included in the government programme of the German development of the grid up to 2026. The official statement also States that the document adopted by the Senate of the United States is legal, and desires Donald trump will not be enough to cancel it. However, it is noted that the signing of this bill will be a heavy blow on Russian-American relations. However, the law has not been signed by the President, and talk about next steps prematurely. At the same time, the report is not excluded that trump is trying to confuse their opponents.
Well, the Russian press believes that whatever steps aimed at rapprochement of the two countries, the us sanctions will remain clouds gathered over Moscow.
