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Experts say EU sanctions against Russia result of America’s pressure

ZAMYATINA Tamara 
President Barack Obama’s threats to toughen sanctions against Russia over the situation in Ukraine have simultaneously put pressure on the leaders of the European Union

MOSCOW, September 05. /ITAR-TASS/. President Barack Obama’s threats to toughen sanctions against Russia over the situation in Ukraine have simultaneously put pressure on the leaders of the European Union, although a breakup of ties with Moscow is highly unprofitable for the Europeans, say the Russian experts polled by ITAR-TASS.

“A breakup of trade agreements between the EU and Russia, a maximal possible deterioration of relations between them and dragging Europe into a free trade zone with the EU is the final goal of the US in the current situation and to attain it the Americans will press forward with maximized sanctions,” political scientist Semyov Uralov told the ITAR-TASS Center for Political Analysis.

“As long as European politicians remain weak-willed and government officials take instructions from across the Atlantic, the war of sanctions will continue and the only way for Moscow to react to the situation is to step up the relocation of the main integration vector to Southeast Asia, to invest in Russia’s own industries and agriculture, to withdraw the remaining assets from Western funds, and to continue building a full-fledged economy at home,” Uralov said.

“The European Commission is subordinated to the US rules of the game to an even bigger degree than the most pro-American European governments and that’s why it’s not at all surprising that the commission is trying to behave holier than the Pope,” political consultant Anatoly Vasserman said.

“This factor has deep roots, as the EU was conceived as an instrument for keeping all the commodity and financial flows within the bounds of Europe and it objectively acted against the EU interests this way,” he said. “Washington is taking counter steps so as to place the EU back under its control.”

“The West continues pressing Russia over the crisis in Ukraine as if it were Russia that created the whole situation but the imbroglio began with the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych and it wasn’t Russia that did it,” said the renowned Russian news analyst Vitaly Tretyakov, the dean of the Supreme School of Television at Moscow State University.

“The American logic is clear but the European logic in this situation is absolutely vague,” Dr. Tretyakov said. “What do Berlin, Paris and Rome want in reality? The West takes on the role of a perpetrator of a mad spiral of confrontation.”

“The US will continue throwing sand in the wheels of Russian-EU cooperation as much as it can because its goal is to absorb the European market,” Mikhail Khazin, the president of the Neokon expert consultancy told ITAR-TASS. “And until Brussels and Germany as the drive engine of the European economy realize the dangers of US ambitions, there’ll be no mitigation of sanctions.”

“EU countries feel quite cozy under the US security umbrella as they economize on defense spending and that is why they let Washington lead themselves by the nose and they have to toughen the sanctions against Russia,” said Anatoly Adamishin, the Honorary President of the Association of Euro-Atlantic Cooperation and formerly Russia’s First Deputy Foreign Minister.

ITAR-TASS may not share the opinions of its contributors

TASS may not share the opinions of its contributors