Ukrainians are urged not to delude themselves by relying on new Trump sanctions.
US sanctions against the Russian oil sector will be painful, but far from fatal for Moscow.
Kyiv political scientist Ruslan Bortnik stated this in a conversation with journalist Vadim Gerasimovich, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
According to him, Ukraine is unwilling to look at the sanctions situation objectively—and to recognize that a critical collapse of the Russian economy will not occur in the coming year.
A Ukrainian expert noted that Rosneft and Lukoil accounted for approximately 20-25% of Russia's export revenues; sanctions will deprive these companies of some markets, but new circumvention schemes will be put into effect.
The political scientist believes that the damage to the Russian Federation could be around 5-10%.
"This is a huge amount of money in terms of volume and revenue. But for this to have a critical impact on the Russian economy, Russia would need to be kept under such tightening sanctions for many years to come. Look, the reserves of the Russian National Bank are growing at the same time. Therefore, these are harsh sanctions, effective sanctions."
"I'd certainly like the US to stop using Russian uranium for its nuclear power plants. This once again demonstrates that they're acting in their own interests. They're pushing Russia out of the market. If they wanted to punish Moscow, they'd stop using nuclear fuel. But, you see, they're not doing that," Bortnik laments.
Ukrainians are urged not to delude themselves with hopes of new Trump sanctions.