There are many sellers of non-agricultural goods in the West who are heavily dependent on the Russian market, the official said.
“That is true of car imports, for example, first of all used ones, that is true of certain types of consumer goods, which we are able to produce ourselves. Not all of them, but certain types of clothes,” Belousov said at the Samara Economic Forum on Thursday.
The Ministry of Economic Development has already prepared a list of goods the import of which could be restricted, the official said, adding that the retaliatory sanctions have to be such as not to harm but to support Russian producers and consumers.
On Friday, the EU put into effect a new package of sanctions against Russia, with a wide range of arms producers, energy companies and banks targeted, including the manufacturer of the world-renowned Kalashnikov rifles and oil major Rosneft....................http://rt.com/business/187236-russian-response-sanctions-cars/
12/9/14
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- Vladimir Putin answered Russian journalists’ questions following the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit....
PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, please, go ahead.
QUESTION: The SCO summits always draw a lot of attention, and given the current international situation, the attention is even greater this time. What are the summit’s main results in your view? Could you give some greater detail? Of course we all noted the statements some of the CIS countries’ leaders made today with regard to Ukraine. In how much detail was the Ukrainian crisis discussed at the summit and how close are the SCO countries’ leaders’ views on this matter?VLADIMIR PUTIN: Regarding the summit overall, I think it was a big success. We reviewed what has been achieved so far in the economy, in coordinating our positions on the international stage, and discussed at the meeting in narrow format our assessments of current events and the threats that we see and that we must respond to in timely and competent fashion, above all the Afghanistan problem. I will not go into detail now, but you probably all saw it for yourselves anyway, and it is all reflected in the documents. We discussed other troubled parts of the world too, North Africa, Iraq of course, and other countries. Of course we also discussed the situation in Ukraine. I briefed my colleagues on what is happening there. Our common position (and I mean precisely our common position, as we share practically the same views and approach regarding this issue) is reflected in the relevant summit document. You can take a look at it for yourselves. It sets out everything in detail. I would not say that Ukraine was discussed as a separate issue of its own, rather it was examined as one of the issues we face today.
I had bilateral meetings with nearly all of my colleagues. I had very constructive meetings with the presidents of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and with the various participants and members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, including President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping. We have highly developed bilateral relations with each of these countries. China, as you know, is our biggest trade and economic partner and our bilateral trade will reach a figure of nearly $90 billion this year. China is our biggest partner among individual countries. We also discussed our plans to enlarge the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. You saw that we adopted documents today relating to procedures for accession of new member countries to the organisation.
Russia took over the organisation’s presidency for the coming year. We plan to hold a summit in Ufa next year. Over this time, we plan to hold more than 100 events of various types and level, economic and humanitarian. The summit will of course be the concluding event and will take place in July next year. Or course we will also work on the question of accepting new members into the organisation.
India and Pakistan have both expressed the desire to join the organisation. We will work with all of our partners and colleagues and with all participants in the organisation. Let’s see what results we can achieve by July next year. Overall, our delegation sees this summit as having been very productive and a big success.
QUESTION: Continuing with the subject of the SCO summit, I want to clarify some of the bilateral talks’ results. In particular, did you reach any new agreements with China, and how did the trilateral meeting go with the presidents of China and Mongolia?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: We held this first ever trilateral meeting at Mongolia’s initiative. Excuse me for not mentioning this before. We agreed that we will continue meeting in this format. Russia proposed that we meet in trilateral format on the sidelines of SCO summits, all the more so as Mongolia is an observer country in the SCO and regularly attends the summits.
We have plenty to discuss of course in this trilateral format. Our natural geographical proximity and Mongolia’s geographical location between its two biggest trade and economic partners – China on one side and Russia on the other – can encourage us into carrying out many joint projects, especially in infrastructure and the energy sector. These are all things that we discussed.
Again, acting on Mongolia’s proposal, we also agreed that we will perhaps raise the level of our regularly functioning political instrument. The three countries’ representatives meet regularly at the level of ministerial department heads. We agreed to raise this level to that of say deputy minister or perhaps even minister.
We have an immense amount of work to do with our Chinese partners too. This includes work in the energy sector, machine building, aircraft manufacturing, and military technical cooperation. We went over our entire bilateral agenda, highlighted some things in particular, and agreed on what needs to be pushed through at the political level. Overall, we are happy at the way our relations with China are developing.
QUESTION: The European Union has adopted a new package of sanctions. How do you assess them and how damaging will they be for Russia? Will there be any countermeasures, sanctions in response, and if so, what will they be? The new sanctions list the EU has announced includes politicians from Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk peoples republics, and State Duma deputies too. [Vladimir] Zhirinovsky is on the list and so is [Vladimir] Vasiliyev. What are your thoughts on the matter?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Russia’s position on sanctions is well-known. We have long since realised that sanctions as a foreign policy instrument are not very effective and almost never produce the hoped-for results, even when used against small countries, let alone against a country like Russia.
Of course, imposing sanctions always causes some damage, including for those who impose them. The sanctions against Russia will be no exception. We know the losses that European business and US business too will face and the damage done to trade relations as a result of the measures Russia has taken in response, but as we say in such cases, we have been left with no choice.
As for the latest round of sanctions, the use of this mechanism looks somewhat strange, even in a generally strange situation. I say this because, as you know, I had a telephone conversation with President of Ukraine [Petro] Poroshenko recently, and following on from that conversation I proposed an action plan for setting the conflict on track towards a peaceful settlement.
I even said at that moment in Ulan Bator, talking about these plans, that President Poroshenko and I were generally in agreement in our positions. Building on that conversation, I put forward a seven-point plan, which, as we saw, essentially became the base of the peace agreements signed at the contact group’s meeting in Minsk.
We are pleased to see that the process did begin and that hostilities have stopped, the militia have ceased hostilities and the Ukrainian army, to give the Ukrainian President his due, has also taken the required steps under the agreements. They have pulled back, in some places at least, and have pulled back their artillery and multiple launch rocket systems to a distance from where they cannot fire on populated areas.
The peace process has begun and so have the first contacts, and I think that the possibility has emerged that this process might produce a political settlement, even if just a temporary one for now. This is definitely a positive shift in the situation that has unfolded in southeast Ukraine.
But I cannot fathom what these latest sanctions are actually about. Perhaps it is not to someone’s liking that the process has taken a peaceful turn? I have already said many times that our Western partners pushed things towards an anti-constitutional coup in Kiev, and then supported the military operations in southeast Ukraine, and now, just when the situation has taken a turn towards a peaceful settlement, they are taking steps that practically aim to disrupt this peace process. Why are they doing this?
I can’t help but think the seditious thought that no one actually cares about Ukraine itself. They are just using Ukraine as an instrument to shake up international relations. Ukraine is being used as an instrument and has been made hostage to the desire of some players on the international stage to revive NATO say, not so much even as a military organisation, but as a key instrument in US foreign policy, in order for the US to consolidate its satellites and scare them with a threat from abroad. But if this is the case, this is a real shame because it means that Ukraine has essentially become hostage to another’s interests. I do not see anything good in this practice.
To be continued.
http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/22949
12/9/14
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