Moscow proposes to aggravate American problems in coordination with those dissatisfied with the United States
Russia cannot respond in a mirror way to the new package of anti-Russian sanctions, and therefore it needs a serious and well-thought-out strategy for comprehensive counteraction.
This opinion was expressed in an interview with Kommersant by the Chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Russia in Global Affairs” Fyodor Lukyanov, answering the question of how Russia can respond to new American sanctions.
He believes that Russia's capabilities are limited, and Moscow does not have measures of pressure comparable to Washington due to the fact that the United States occupies a central place in the international economic system and continues to largely control it.
“That is, there is no need to talk about a truly mirror response. The measures being discussed - stopping the supply of rocket engines, titanium, uranium and some others - will cause damage to certain American manufacturers, but will also be a financial blow to the Russian budget, and in the longer term will mean the loss of important markets in America,” the expert said.
He points out that since the adoption of the CAATSA sanctions law in August 2017, Russia’s reaction has always been cautious and restrained.
“There is no immediate effective response to American actions; we need a serious and well-thought-out strategy of comprehensive counteraction that would take advantage of any mistakes and weaknesses of Washington (not only in the Russian direction) and would have the goal of aggravating all the problems of the United States until the atmosphere in Washington changes. It is especially important to flexibly establish relations and coordinate actions with all those dissatisfied with American policy; fortunately, the United States under Trump is pursuing an extremely aggressive course against many countries and causing them to be rejected,” Lukyanov concluded.
Moscow proposes to aggravate American problems in coordination with those dissatisfied with the US