TOKYO, April 7. /TASS/. Sanctions imposed on Russia have proven, at least in the short-term outlook, less effective than anticipated by their Western initiators, but will be more impactful over the medium and long term, Masahiro Matsumura, professor at Momoyama Gakuin University, told TASS.
"Sanctions [against Russia] are not as effective as had been expected in the short term (up to the present - TASS), but will definitely have a much greater effect over the medium to long term, from the standpoint of Russia’s weakening and its transition to China’s orbit," the professor said. "Europe is showing considerable weariness with sanctions but has no choice but to stick with them as long as the US retains its hegemonic position," he noted.
At the same time, currently American financial hegemony "is clearly at a crossroads," Matsumura noted. "Europe and Japan are silently observing" the situation, the expert said. "Following the global financial crisis, the Group of Seven was on the brink of dysfunction. However, to date [the influence] of the G7 has not declined dramatically because the US has retained its financial hegemony owing to the adept application of financial policy measures. Nevertheless, US hegemony is clearly at a crossroads," he noted.
No serious toughening of anti-Russian sanctions is expected on Japan’s part because it has virtually no leverage given its limited trade volume with Russia, the expert said. "Japan has not introduced any significant sanctions against Russia from the very start simply because bilateral trade is limited, but at the same time Japan has managed to preserve oil and gas trading levels [with Russia]," Matsumura added.