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Crimea and Sevastopol

Reaction of West to Crimea referendum will be utterly reserved from economic point of view

MOSCOW, March 17. /ITAR-TASS/. The results of the all-Crimea referendum, in which, according to preliminary data, more than 96% of residents have declared in favour of joining the RF will give rise to a stormy reaction from the West, experts predict.

"The matter currently revolves around two things: the RF actions after the publication of official results, and international reaction,"Dmitry Abzalov, president of the Strategic cCommunications Center, told Itar-Tass.

As far as international reaction is concerned, it will be, according to the political scientist, "of course a stormy one, particularly on the part of Washington". "However, no one will be axing the energy-supply pipe, and no one will be imposing an embargo," the political scientist maintains.

Abzalov believes that "An informational splash" will be a short-lived one. "An informational war will last three days and then a strategic discussion will ensue," the political scientist said.

For her part, Oksana Gaman-Golutvina, chairperson of the Russian Association of Political Science, pointed out that opinions about a non-recognition of the outcome of the referendum had been made public prior to the plebiscite. "This kind of judgements usually happen to be prejudiced. Much more trust is aroused by the opinion of analysts, both Russian and foreign ones, of whom there are more than 150 from 23 countries, who with one voice speak about lackof any significant infractions. And this engenders trust," she emphasized.

As far as US and EU reaction is conerned, they, Gaman-Golutvina recalled, have rather definitely formulated their stance. "In this sense, everything is rather predictable," she said.

At the same time, in expert's view, one must differentiate political and economic sanctions. "It is economic sancitons that are most significant in the present-day world. The scope of economic contacts with the European Union is quite great, particularly those with Germany, and in reference to EU countries the cost of economic sanctions against Russia may do quite a considerable damage. This is why, I believe that EU members will take up a reserved attitude to the application of economic sanctions against Russia", the president of the Russian Association of Political Science said in conclusion.

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