War economy continues
Putin: Sanctions strengthen Russian society
05/19/2023, 5:10 p.m
The West’s plans to restrict the sale of Russian diamonds only raise a weary smile in the Kremlin. After all, the world market is rich in “alternative sales channels”. President Putin also says on Russian television: Sanctions actually strengthen social cohesion.
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin has described the Western sanctions as helpful for the cohesion of Russian society. “The more sanctions were imposed on us, the more slander there was, the higher the parameter of this general consolidation became,” Putin said at a televised meeting in Pyatigorsk in the North Caucasus.
The President has repeatedly stressed that the sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU, the US and some other countries did not end his war against Ukraine. Russia continues to sell its foreign exchange earners oil and gas to China and India, for example, and can thus keep its war economy running.
The Kremlin also smiled at the West’s plans to restrict the sale of Russian diamonds. The world market is rich in “alternative sales channels,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “As practice shows with other goods, other products, if they are no longer bought there, you just start buying them somewhere else. There are no gaps,” said Peskow.
Thanks to imports from third countries, basically everything can still be bought in Russia, albeit sometimes at significantly higher prices. Although Russia admits to difficulties in connection with the sanctions, Western experts also believe that it is doing better than expected under the pressure of the punitive measures.
In addition, sanctions specialists emphasize that the effect is not short-term, but rather medium and long-term – i.e. it will only occur after a few years. In Moscow, it is also repeatedly emphasized that the West has run out of sanctions. Ukraine has recently repeatedly called for punitive measures to be taken, for example, against Russia’s nuclear industry. That is not yet in sight.
There were initially no details on the planned diamond sanctions at the G7 summit of the seven leading industrial nations in Japan. In the EU, the trade in Russian diamonds has already fallen by around 80 percent as a result of voluntary commitments, it said. Russia is the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds. The trade in gemstones is an important industry for the country and a significant source of income.