Losses due to sanctions restrictions between the EU and Russia in 2014 exceeded 100 billion euros, the European economy pays a high price for the conflict, said Tuesday the head of the Eastern Committee of German economy Wolfgang Buchele.
«According to the study, University of Kiel, the losses from the mutual sanctions introduced in 2014 now exceeds one hundred billion euros. About 60% of the losses in Russia, about 40% — at the expense of the EU economy.
Thus, the European economy pays a high price for the conflict, the responsibility for which are policy and which can only be resolved by diplomatic means,» said Buchele.
He added that working in Russia, the German business expects that «ultimately will be determined diplomatic initiative to deescalate the conflict (around the Crimea and in the East of Ukraine — ed)».
The U.S. Treasury in the night of Tuesday published «the Kremlin list», which included almost the entire leadership of the Russian Federation and major Russian businessmen — more than 200 people. The list was prepared in accordance with the law «On combating the enemies of America through sanctions», which was adopted in the U.S. in the summer of 2017. It does not entail the automatic imposition of sanctions against these individuals, but implies that the restrictive measures against them from the United States can be introduced in the future.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the report as «an unfriendly act» that harms the relations between Russia and the United States as a whole. According to him, Moscow is not interested in having to cease relations with Washington will refrain from retaliatory steps after the publication of the list and will monitor the situation. The President also noted that Russia is against this background, should deal primarily with domestic issues, guided by the rule «the dog barks, but the caravan moves on.»
Crimea became a Russian region after held there in March 2014 referendum in which 96.77% of voters of the Republic of Crimea and 95.6% of residents of Sevastopol voted for joining Russian Federation. Crimean authorities held a referendum after a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.
The Ukrainian authorities in April 2014 began a military operation against the breakaway LC and the DNI, which declared independence after a coup in Ukraine in February 2014. According to the latest UN victims of the conflict began more than 10 thousand people.
Moscow has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to domestic conflict and is not privy to the events in the Donbass, and is interested in Ukraine overcame political and economic crisis.
Russian Bonds Gain as Traders Laugh Off U.S. SanctionsThreat
By andRussia’s borrowing costs plunged to the lowest level in more than four years as investors took the lack of detail in a U.S. Treasury report as a sign that Washington isn’t ready for tougher sanctions.
The long-awaited report published late Monday essentially amounted to a list of Russia’s billionaires and officials with no indication of additional penalties. The Treasury gave no details about a separate review of the possible impact of sanctions on Russian sovereign bonds that has been casting a shadow on Russian debt markets since it was commissioned by President Donald Trump in August.
“The U.S. Treasury’s list of prominent Russians is merely that: a list of prominent Russians which anyone with an Internet connection and thirty spare minutes could have produced,” Julian Rimmer, an emerging-markets trader at Investec Bank Plc in London, said by email. “There’s an element of relief because no punitive sanctions were imposed."
The accompanying review of the potential effect of sanctions on Russia’s sovereign debt was classified, Senator Bob Corker said in a statement on Tuesday.
Moody’s Investors Service lifted its outlook for Russia to positive from stable on Thursday, raising the prospect for an upgrade out of junk if the sanctions threat is removed. S&P Global Ratings also rates Russia one notch below investment grade and is due to review its assessment next month.
An auction of 30 billion rubles ($534 million) of bonds on Wednesday should see strong demand, according to Javier Sanchez, a fixed-income strategist at UniCredit SpA. “The market has received the sanctions report well,” he said.
Diminished Risk
Societe Generale SA recommended buying Russia’s 10-year OFZ notes, in a report emailed Tuesday. “The current U.S. approach significantly diminishes the risk of harsh measures against Russian sovereign debt over the short-term,” analysts including Phoenix Kalen wrote.
The nation’s ruble notes due in January 2028 climbed, cutting the yield 10 basis points to 7.32 percent, the lowest level since before Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula. Trading volumes were almost 400 percent of the daily three-month average.
The ruble advanced as much as 0.8 percent against the dollar, before paring gains to trade little changed at 6:55 p.m. in Moscow after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he expected sanctions would come out of the oligarch report.
High Expectations
While Yandex NV and Aeroflot PJSC retreated after their co-founder and chief executive officer, respectively, were included in the list, Russia’s benchmark stocks gauge closed down 0.2 percent, compared with a slump of 1.7 percent for MSCI Inc.’s emerging-market equities benchmark.
The Treasury said inclusion in the rosters doesn’t mean the individuals will face sanctions or impose any restrictions on dealing with them. In the weeks ahead of the release, Russian tycoons and officials had shown growing concern about the possibility they’d be included. Merely being publicly identified on the list could dissuade banks and other institutions in the U.S. and Europe from doing business with them.
“It’s very unlikely that all persons and businesses from the oligarchs’ list will be sanctioned so it looks like a non-event,” said Dmitri Barinov, a portfolio manager at Union Investment Privatfonds GmbH in Frankfurt, which oversees about $200 billion in assets. “Core themes for the Russian bond markets, such as high yields and oil, will dominate the talk about sanctions from now on.”
— With assistance by Anna Andrianova, Artyom Danielyan, Alec McCabe, and Rita Nazareth
