A defiant Russia yesterday dismissed unprecedented Western sanctions over Ukraine after Brussels and Washington unveiled the toughest punitive measures against the Kremlin since the Cold War.
The third round of US and EU sanctions aims to force Russia to change tack and halt its support of separatists in Ukraine by targeting its vital financial, arms and energy sectors.
However, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov made light of the restrictions, also designed to hit the oligarchs in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
Photo: AFP
“And what about the sanctions? In for a penny, in for a pound,” he quipped to journalists.
Financial institutions put on a brave face, saying their operations would not be affected, while a top official unleashed a diatribe against the administration of US President Barack Obama.
“Obama will go down in history not as a peacemaker — everyone has already forgotten about his Nobel Peace Prize — but as a US president who started a new Cold War,” Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the Russian parliament’s lower house, said on Twitter.
There was no immediate official reaction from Putin’s office or the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but Moscow has long insisted sanctions would merely bring Russia’s society together and make its economy more self-reliant.
The stepped-up sanctions came as Moscow dismissed claims it was responsible for supplying the missile that downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, and fighting in Ukraine showed little sign of abating.
They will notably make it tougher for Russian state-owned banks to access European financial markets, forcing their costs higher and hobbling an already struggling economy.
The Central Bank of Russia said that financial institutions were working normally and that if necessary, it would adopt measures to protect targeted lenders, which include the country’s second-largest bank, VTB.
Economists have warned that Europe’s own economy would also suffer from the so-called “sector sanctions” against its biggest source of energy and its major trading partner.
Despite the dismissive talk in Moscow, a number of economists acknowledged the new restrictions would be painful to absorb for Russia, and could stoke social tensions because its economy is sliding toward a recession.
“The current amount of corporate debt is US$700 billion; these debts should be refinanced,” FBK Strategic Analysis Institute Director Igor Nikolayev said, pointing to a lack of cheap loans in Russia.
Nikolai Petrov of the Moscow-based Higher School of Economics said that this time, the sanctions would be felt by everyday Russians — and predicted they would drive an even greater wedge between Putin and the West.
“The confrontation will increase abruptly. Putin has been practically driven into a corner and this man does not make concessions under pressure,” he said.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RSS