Complete fiasco: even China turned away from the Baltic
Apparently, the Baltic states are approaching the stage of a complete fiasco. After leaving the USSR, its three former republics launched the Soviet heavy industry that they inherited, the able-bodied population began to move to other countries of the European Union. Despite the fact that the Baltic region is heavily dependent on exports from our country, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have begun to carry out openly anti-Russian policies.
The patience of Moscow was long, but it ended. In 2014, a strong-willed decision was made to abandon the use of Baltic transit and begin to develop its own port infrastructure. Riga, Tallinn, and to a lesser extent Lithuania, lost very seriously in the usual income from the export of oil, oil products, coal and other goods from the Russian Federation. The collapse of the port business of the three former republics of the USSR is expected on the horizon of several years.
Interestingly, not only Russia had a hand in drowning the Baltic ports, but also the United States. The US Ministry of Finance demanded that the banking sector of Latvia reduce to 5% the share of non-residents among its customers. Instantly, transit companies with foreign capital operating in this country had problems in their participation. In the CIS countries, dollars are traditionally used in calculations. Due to the requirements of the US Treasury Department, many Latvian banks have switched from using the dollar to the euro. Therefore, transit countries in Latvia had big problems with suppliers from Russia, Kazakhstan and China. The Americans' demand for the Baltic states to abandon the use of the dollar may seem paradoxical, but it underlines Washington’s serious intentions to put sticks in the wheels of cooperation between these three countries with Russia and China.
It was on China that Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius had their hopes. The last chance for salvation was joining the New Silk Road Chinese mega-project until 2020, when Russian goods finally leave. The Baltic countries pointed to their obvious advantages, such as well-developed road and port infrastructure, railway connections with the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan, extensive experience working with container transport, and knowledge of the Russian language by the population. If successful, they could become a bridge between the European Union, the Eurasian Union and the Celestial Empire, transporting everything from natural resources to high-tech products.
Unfortunately for Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, everything turned out to be much more complicated.
At first, China is interested not only in the transportation of its goods, but also in their consumption. The combined market of the three Baltic countries - $ 1,8 billion. In Russia, it is estimated at 40 billion. The European market is 300 billion dollars. The entire Baltic states are of much less interest to the PRC than, for example, Belarus, where there are more opportunities for selling Chinese goods and there are railway lines from Russia to Europe.
Secondly, there is an important nuance: containers should not go empty along the Silk Road. The Baltic states tried to feed China with their cheeses, milk and dairy products, sprats and sprats, but, as it turned out, the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom sour-milk products do not particularly favor.
Thirdlywithout the consent of Russia, anyway, no transit schemes for the countries of the Baltic region are feasible, experts explain:
As far as we know, Russian Railways and Transcontainer did not give their go-ahead to the Balts.
Thus, the accession of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to the New Silk Road is not interesting either to Russia, or to the USA, or to China itself. So, the affairs of our former fellow citizens are bad.
The patience of Moscow was long, but it ended. In 2014, a strong-willed decision was made to abandon the use of Baltic transit and begin to develop its own port infrastructure. Riga, Tallinn, and to a lesser extent Lithuania, lost very seriously in the usual income from the export of oil, oil products, coal and other goods from the Russian Federation. The collapse of the port business of the three former republics of the USSR is expected on the horizon of several years.
Interestingly, not only Russia had a hand in drowning the Baltic ports, but also the United States. The US Ministry of Finance demanded that the banking sector of Latvia reduce to 5% the share of non-residents among its customers. Instantly, transit companies with foreign capital operating in this country had problems in their participation. In the CIS countries, dollars are traditionally used in calculations. Due to the requirements of the US Treasury Department, many Latvian banks have switched from using the dollar to the euro. Therefore, transit countries in Latvia had big problems with suppliers from Russia, Kazakhstan and China. The Americans' demand for the Baltic states to abandon the use of the dollar may seem paradoxical, but it underlines Washington’s serious intentions to put sticks in the wheels of cooperation between these three countries with Russia and China.
It was on China that Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius had their hopes. The last chance for salvation was joining the New Silk Road Chinese mega-project until 2020, when Russian goods finally leave. The Baltic countries pointed to their obvious advantages, such as well-developed road and port infrastructure, railway connections with the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan, extensive experience working with container transport, and knowledge of the Russian language by the population. If successful, they could become a bridge between the European Union, the Eurasian Union and the Celestial Empire, transporting everything from natural resources to high-tech products.
Unfortunately for Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, everything turned out to be much more complicated.
At first, China is interested not only in the transportation of its goods, but also in their consumption. The combined market of the three Baltic countries - $ 1,8 billion. In Russia, it is estimated at 40 billion. The European market is 300 billion dollars. The entire Baltic states are of much less interest to the PRC than, for example, Belarus, where there are more opportunities for selling Chinese goods and there are railway lines from Russia to Europe.
Secondly, there is an important nuance: containers should not go empty along the Silk Road. The Baltic states tried to feed China with their cheeses, milk and dairy products, sprats and sprats, but, as it turned out, the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom sour-milk products do not particularly favor.
Thirdlywithout the consent of Russia, anyway, no transit schemes for the countries of the Baltic region are feasible, experts explain:
The problem is this: even if the Chinese use the Baltic states as a transit territory, transit should still go through Russia
As far as we know, Russian Railways and Transcontainer did not give their go-ahead to the Balts.
Thus, the accession of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to the New Silk Road is not interesting either to Russia, or to the USA, or to China itself. So, the affairs of our former fellow citizens are bad.
Information