The Dutch economy is going to suffer due to the consequences of the sanctions and the boycott, according to Hans de Boer, chairman of employers’ organisation VNO-NCW. The Russians started importing technological products in bulk, so that they can build on their own production. “I see an important effect of the boycott that should worry us as entrepreneurs,” De Boer said to the NOS news. “You can sideline Russia for a very long time. By doing so, you would punish them, and they would deserve it. But on the other hand, the Russians are not standing still either, and are increasing their own production capacity.” Russia has significantly increased its import, mostly those of computers and medicine.
Today in Berlin, President Putin, Chancellor Merkel, President Hollande and President Poroshenko are meeting to talk about the observance of the Minsk Accords. These accords should make an end to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, but the execution of the accords leaves much to be desired. Last week, the EU decided to extend the sanctions against Russia with another six months. The EU implemented the sanctions in 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea and got involved in the Ukrainian conflict.
Russian analyst Kirill Rodionov wrote in a blog that the European agricultural sector is not suffering as much as the Russian consumer because of the boycott. According to the Russian, it is mostly Russia’s neighbouring countries that had to accept losses. He indicates figures of the Gaidar Institute which state that European export increased by six per cent between 2013 and 2015.
Russian consumers, on the other hand, were confronted with price rises of more than ten per cent, depending on product group. The positive effect on the Russian food sector should also not be overestimated. Kirill argues that the sector’s growth figures are lower than in the years before the boycott.
Moscow does not have the illusion that the US will lift the sanctions when Trump moves into the White House. The Kremlin also does not expect that the number of NATO troops on the Russian borders will stop increasing, the Kremlin said to news agency Tass.