Effect of US-EU sanctions against Russia will be moderate — deputy PM

MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich believes that the main effect from the US and EU sanctions against Russia will be the slowdown in implementation of number of projects by Russian companies. In an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel.

"The effect of sanctions on industry is moderate," Dvorkovich noted. The main effect was restricted access to relatively cheap Western loans, he added. "It allowed to implement projects more effectively and faster," the deputy prime minister said. "The implementation of such projects has now slowed down as we are limited by our own resources and possibilities on Asian financial markets," he noted.

Ban on supplies of high-tech equipment has also slowed down the implementation of Russian companies’ projects, he added. "We manage to find alternative solutions on purchasing equipment in other countries in almost all cases," Dvorkovich noted.

"We are moving slower than we would like to — that is the main effect," he said.

"In general the effect will be moderate: we will see the completed projects a bit later than we expected," deputy prime minister said.

Sanctions against Russia

On December 21 the Council of the European Union formally extended sanctions against Russia by six months, thus endorsing the decision agreed by the envoys of the 28 EU member-countries on December 18. The sanctions against Russia were extended until July 31, 2016. The EU leaders initially linked the duration of sanctions to the complete implementation of the Minsk Agreements that expire on 31 December 2015. "However, since the Minsk agreements will not be fully implemented by 31 December 2015, the duration of the sanctions has been prolonged whilst the Council continues its assessment of progress in implementation," EU said in a statement.

One day later, on December 22, the US expanded the list of sanctioned Russian individuals and organizations in relation to the Ukrainian conflict.