MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/. Economic sanctions and restrictions initiated by the United States are not very tangible for the Russian and global economy now, Chief Executive Officer of Russia’s top lender Sberbank Herman Gref said in an interview aired by the Rossiya-24 TV news channel on Firday, adding though that he expects them to take a toll in the medium-and long-term.
"The current scale of sanctions is such that we will not feel them much in the short-term, though in the medium- and long-term they will take a toll on the (Russian) and global economy," he said.
On Monday, August 27, the United States’ sanctions on Russia over Moscow’s alleged involvement in poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Britain came into effect. The new restrictions include a total ban on the supply of electronic devices and other dual-use products to Russia. Even tougher measures may be taken in November. The US authorities said however that Russia may escape the harsher sanctions if it provides credible guarantees not to use chemical and biological weapons and allows the United Nations and other international organizations to carry out inspections on the country’s soil.
Former Russian military intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergei Skripal, 66, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain and later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his daughter Yulia, 33, suffered the effects of an alleged nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury on March 4, London said earlier. Claiming that the substance used in the attack had been a Novichok-class nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, London rushed to accuse Russia of being involved in the incident. Moscow rejected all of the United Kingdom’s accusations, saying that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia ever had any program aimed at developing such a substance.