{UAH} AMERICAN SANCTIONS COST EU BILLIONS OF EUROS

US sanctions against Russia cost billions of euros for EU - expert

© Collage: Voice of Russia

The German Government has deferred a decision on granting Russian export licenses to the Defense and Space Department of Airbus Group because of Crimea’s incorporation into Russia. That’s according to Bloomberg citing sources familiar with the negotiation.

The move freezes the sale of satellite technology worth as much as 700 million euros. It impacts talks between Russia and Airbus over the sale of so-called SAR orbiters which operate unique radar technology – the source said – adding that the talks are now at an advanced stage. The Voice of Russia discussed this issue with Christoph Hoerstel, a government consultant and publicist in Germany.

This move come as a surprise for the two sides that are involved in the negotiations which we’ve heard have actually gone to a very advanced stage. Was it a well-planned move?

Well, I’m not sure whether the Bloomberg report is correct. We don’t have any reconfirmation about that. We have a very astonished expert in Germany, high up in the German foreign policy society who declared that he is astonished about this, because he was talking to this biggest arms manufacturer in Europe just two days ago, on Thursday and he didn’t hear anything about this kind of blocking of a deal done after four years of negotiations. This is Mr. Bulcke. So, I’m not very sure whether this is final.

But we have a new development that Ukraine has declared that it will stop paying for gas unless there is a new negotiation about the price. And that is quite interesting.

Most certainly! You said that you were actually quite surprised, and not just yourself, about this Bloomberg report. Is there any reason to believe that the report might not be correct?

It is very clear that we have a situation where the US is at odds with Europe, because the US wants much stronger sanctions and Obama doesn’t let a day pass without declaring that recently. And Europe is very hesitant to follow suit, because, of course, it damages our businesses, it costs billions of euros if we stop short. And in Germany, for that matter, we have something like a big front against the sanction policy by NATO countries with the likes of Siemens or Volkswagen who declared – we will not do any sanctions against Russia, that is unprecedented after the WW II.

Very interesting information. So, how important this agreement for Russia really is? And how important is it for both sides? What do both sides stand to lose?

This is a very good question. Both sides lose equally. It is very important for Russia. It is also militarily usable, I think, because this radar can look through smog and smoke. And it is a big deal for the arms manufacturer. And for that reason we must see it as a done deal. Both sides agreed that they will do it. And that has a reason – both sides wanted it, it was good for both. It was a win-win situation and what we are doing now with the sanctions under the US pressure, we continue blackmailing Russia to accept Ukraine’s gas prices.

You also mentioned the fact that Ukraine is now asking the gas prices to be renegotiated. What do you think is going to happen with that? I mean, it is actually the case right now that Ukraine is paying a bit more than Europe for gas. Are you expecting to see any movement as far as the negotiations?

I see the blackmail effort led by Washington and executed by NATO against Russia in the price question of gas to Ukraine, which is, by the way, a bilateral issue. All these EU NATO countries have no right whatsoever to interfere in this negotiation. That is number one. Number two is – if you look at an American company, having a bad customer like Ukraine, they would have stopped delivering anything long ago.

So, what Russia is doing is really very patient. And if the price is higher than for somebody else, well, that is what we call a risk hike. If a customer is risky, he pays more. Everybody taking a credit without being a very good customer with his bank will pay higher interests. That is normal in business.

You’ve mentioned that such companies, large German concerns like Volkswagen and Siemens have both said that they will not be involved in any sanctions. How strong the lobby right now is or how strong the call in the media, in the government and just the public for sanctions against Russia is? And how strong is the call to restrain from sanctions?

I’ve said for many times in the interviews also with Russia Today that nobody in Germany really likes sanctions apart from a few NATO crazy politicians. The people do not want it. The people want peace, friendliness and happiness with Russia. That’s what the people want. And the companies want to do good business and they want to have a calm political environment to continue this very successful business with Russia.

So, it is a high German interest not to continue with the sanctions. And we feel that, the politicians in the government, in Berlin is now under high pressure from all kinds of businesses, from the whole business sector so to say not to continue with these stupid sanctions.

If this information that Bloomberg has published is true, do you think that there is going to be any way of resuming those talks? I mean, what is going to happen next? Will Airbus be able to find another partner, perhaps?

That’s one story, of course, another partner. But what will happen next, I can tell you that if this is really an official policy, if Berlin has put a “no” on this deal, we can be very sure that over this weekend this arms manufacturer will approach Berlin’s top politicians on the usual ways, because they have a very strong lobby… look at Siemens, I mean, is the German government. There is no chancellor boarding an airplane without Siemens manager joining him. That is the situation.

So, over this weekend there will be a lot of bickering behind the curtains. My feeling is that right now the politicians will try, from the NATO side, Washington will exert its pressure, that they will try to continue with sanctions. And the business sector will lobby against it very strongly. There will be infighting in Europe, very strong, it is a very decisive weekend, to me.

Do you think that this point of view as far as the sanctions is unique to Germany or would you say that there are other European countries that are also unhappy with the pressure from Washington to impose sanctions?

More or less the same. Let’s just look at the recent history of how the polls showing that people were against the joint fighting in Syria or they were against an attack on Iran and things like that by 80-90%. And it is the same percentage of the people being against any trouble with Russia, they don’t want trouble. And businesses, by the way, Russia is doing a swift business with the UK. They’ve just had large amounts of gas on top of the present deals something like 40%. Also Germany, it is the same, we are ordering gas from Gazprom like hell. So, this is quite an interesting situation where in fact business completely deviated from the official sanction course of NATO.

That’s a very interesting situation. How is that going to further develop, because obviously the businesses are going to be putting pressure on the politicians, but there is this whole NATO thing which is also important to Europe and of course there is pressure from NATO to support the sanctions that NATO wants?

Looking at that, for me the key is with Moscow. If Moscow now stands firm and continues its calm patient but very clear policy, that will come out fine. If Moscow stop supporting the Russian people in Ukraine, if they try to compromise with Washington and things like that, Washington will grow more indecent. If President Putin continues his strong good patient course, that will come out fine.

We most certainly have to watch what happens further. It is going to be a very interesting situation. And you’ve mentioned that over the weekend there is going to be a lot of talking and bickering. Is there something specific going on?

It is on two sides. The politicians will discuss among each other, because the next week we are going to have Russia-NATO negotiations. And then, of course, it is the business calling its friends in politics and telling them – you, please, stop this stupid sanction policy, it is going nowhere, it is hurting us, billions of euros.

Most certainly! We’ll have to wait till Monday and see if there is any change in the situation.

 

 

EM

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