The West is trapped because of it’s own illegal sanctions against Russia.
The sanctions, which were conceived to destroy the Russian economy, contribute to an increase in world prices for raw materials and energy carriers and lead to an increase in Moscow’s income, The Hill writes.
And if the Russian ruble has recovered sharply, then, for example, the Japanese yen which is the third largest currency in terms of trade has fallen to a 20-year low against the dollar.
And all because Japan followed the example of the United States in adopting illegal sanctions against the Russian Federation. In addition, frenzied inflation and supply disruptions deprive Western corporations of profits and eventually affect ordinary consumers, the newspaper writes.
With economic problems approaching, April became Wall Street’s lowest month since the pandemic-related drop in March 2020. In April, the S&P 500 dropped 8.8%.
According to a research by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a Finland-registered think group, countries implementing sanctions paradoxically helped Russia nearly treble its income from selling fossil resources to them to roughly €62 billion in the first two months of the war in Ukraine. With the exception of China, the sanctions imposers were the top 18 importers, with the European Union (EU) alone accounting for 71 percent of Russian petroleum purchases during this time period.
While Turkey, South Korea, and Japan continue to rely on Russian energy supplies, the EU’s gas, oil, and coal imports from Russia were roughly €44 billion in the first two months of this year, compared to around €140 billion for the entire year of 2021.
Despite the fact that its economy is suffering as a result of Western sanctions, Russia is doing its part to keep global energy and commodity prices high, notably by shutting off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria. Moscow may hike prices even higher by enacting broader counter-sanctions while still protecting its export revenues.
The ultimate losers from the Russia-NATO dispute, however, are the poorer nations, who are enduring the brunt of the economic impact through no fault of their own. Increasing gasoline, food, and fertiliser costs have triggered violent street protests from Peru to Sri Lanka, with some states spiraling into political crisis. Many poor countries’ debt problems have worsened.
Why these sanctions are defined as illegal ?
“There is no general obligation under existing international law to cooperate with other states imposing unilateral sanctions against a state breaching a peremptory norm nor an obligation to refrain from actions which reduce the impact of these sanctions. This is in contrast to the obligation to cooperate in the implementation of sanctions adopted by the UN, which finds its source in Article 2(5) of the UN Charter.”
Read full article on the European Journal of international Law