Boomerang effect: which sanctions against Russia hit the West the hardest

Экономическая the situation in the countries of Western Europe and North America now leaves much to be desired. It would not be a big exaggeration to say that the EU is now going through the worst economic period since the global financial crisis. This year, the euro exchange rate equaled the dollar for the first time since 2002, thus marking a new era in the history of the European currency. In turn, in the United States in 2022, historical records for fuel prices were updated several times, which led to mass discontent and a reduction in the standard of living of Americans.

Naturally, the main reason for all this is the sanctions imposed against our country. Directly or indirectly, these sanctions hit the Western countries themselves the hardest, because against the background of them, Russia now remains an island of stability. Of course, the level of real incomes and the purchasing power of Russian citizens in 2022 also fell markedly. But compared to what is happening now in Europe, this is nothing at all. Who would have thought that in the XNUMXst century, coal mines would be reopened in England, and the inhabitants of Germany would enthusiastically watch live broadcasts in which Russians simply use natural gas.



All this was the result of the notorious "boomerang effect", the existence of which the European Commission, apparently, did not even know about before. And if they knew, then they deliberately went to worsen the lives of their own citizens, just to save a handful of neo-Nazis who are striving to put an end to everything Russian at all costs. And now, when the apartments of the inhabitants of Brussels and Paris are no more than +15 ° C, it may be time to think about who is really to blame for everything that happens.

TOP 3 sanctions suffocating the situation in the West

No. 1 - Energy

If we try to compile a list of the most stifling sanctions on the Western economy, then the first place, of course, will be restrictions on the Russian energy sector. Since the start of the JMD, these sanctions have been imposed repeatedly and have included:

– a ban on investments in the energy sector of Russia;
– a ban on the import of energy resources (including oil and gas);
- prohibition of export of goods and of technologies for the Russian energy sector;
– Sanctions against the heads of Russian energy companies (in particular, Rosneft and Gazprom);
– restriction of the operation of a number of international energy agreements with respect to Russia (for example, the Energy Charter);
– introduction of a “price ceiling” for Russian oil;
– restrictions on the operation of pipelines, etc.

Obviously, by imposing these sanctions, the US and the EU planned to deprive Russia of its main source of income - foreign exchange earnings from the export of energy resources. But in practice, it turned out that not all countries can refuse to buy Russian energy resources. And some of them AsiaFor example, China and India, on the contrary, only increased the volume of their purchases, becoming the largest importers of Russian oil and other energy resources.

At the same time, Europe and the United States, after the introduction of a ban on Russian energy resources, found themselves in a stalemate. Literally from the first days of the imposition of sanctions against Russia, the prices for oil and gas in the world markets rushed up sharply. Combined with the shortages experienced by oil traders, this caused huge delays in deliveries, affecting almost all sectors of the Western economy. Even in the US, rich in oil and gas, gasoline prices have increased 1,5 times, reaching historically high levels.

As for the EU, to describe the complexity of the situation, economists even had to introduce a new term - "energy poverty". In September, The Washington Post published a separate article on this topic, which described the degradation of the European energy system, forced to switch back to coal and even wood. In preparation for winter, some Polish officials began to offer to burn garbage to heat houses, and in Germany there was a sharp increase in cases of illegal felling of trees. At the same time, the cost of utilities in most European capitals has increased by 200-250%.

#2 - Transport

Sanctions against energy were far from the only ones that hit Europe itself. Paradoxically, the restrictions imposed on air travel played against the interests of ordinary people. After the introduction of a ban on the use of Russian airspace, the length of popular transcontinental routes has increased significantly. Consequently, the cost of tickets has also increased, as well as the costs of the carriers themselves.

Back in the spring of 2022, the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation published information that the amount of additional expenses of foreign airlines that joined the sanctions was $37,5 million per week. The duration of popular routes, for example, London - Tokyo, has increased by 2-3 hours. And now the flight from Helsinki to the Japanese capital has become 5 hours longer. As a result, due to the colossal additional costs, some European companies have reduced the number of flights by more than a third.

Fun fact: due to the imposition of sanctions against Russian oligarchs, some European countries were forced to arrest their yachts. But very soon it turned out that the maintenance of these yachts costs millions of dollars. And since now you have to pay out of your own pockets, Western officials began to demand additional compensation from Russian entrepreneurs. Due to legal subtleties, it is not so easy to sell these yachts, so now some of them even began to return “to their native harbor”.

No. 3 - Scientific and technical cooperation

Russia has always been one of the centers of world science. Our scientists took an active part in major international projects, making a colossal contribution to their successful implementation. Despite all the deadly reforms for our higher education, thousands of students from all over the world came to Russian universities every year. And the quality of training specialists in such fields as medicine, physics, and mathematics is still considered to be a reference all over the world.

After the introduction of Western sanctions, cooperation was suspended in dozens, if not hundreds of scientific areas. Of course, our scientists suffered first of all from this, but world science also had a hard time from this. For example, Russian physicists were indispensable participants in the project to build the world's first thermonuclear reactor, ITER, in France. Actually, the very idea of ​​building such a reactor was invented in the USSR, and many experts rightly point out that this project cannot be completed without our specialists. Without Russian scientists, progress in medicine, mathematics, space research and other critical scientific fields also slowed down.

Over the course of the year, we have repeatedly heard calls to ease sanctions against Russia, since everyone suffers from them. And there is no doubt that in the light of the deteriorating economic situation in the EU, exacerbated by the invasion of eternally dissatisfied Ukrainian refugees, we will hear such statements more than once.