Various sanctions have been imposed against Russia in the past eight months. Meanwhile, the EU spends about three times as much money on Russia’s energy commodities than on aid to Ukraine. Moreover, the Western countries are stepping up imports of Russia’s metals while the US authorities ask domestic banks to keep on working with Russian companies.
Does this mean that the West is being inconsistent and is backing out when it comes to sanctions? Can those who trade with Russia be blamed for sponsoring the war against Ukraine? And why does the world find it so hard to cut all ties with Russia? These are the questions we discussed with Sergey Aleksashenko, an economist.
Bloomberg reported in November that the US authorities had asked those domestic banks that show too much vigilance not to stop working with Russian companies not under sanctions. This includes Gazprom, fertilisers suppliers, and so on. Why did they intervene?