Journalist-analyst, former Kremlin adviser Alexander Nekrassov expressed his thoughts on the US sanctions against Russia on live program in Al-Jazeera. He touched to important aspects of current political tensions between US and Russia.
Eurasia Diary presents his interview
Anchor: What is Kremlin expectation? Do they believe sanctions will become reality?
Alexander Nekrassov: The point of view from Kremlin is that this is not just against the Russia. This is a part of political struggle going on in Washington. It has a lot to do with trying to hit Trump as much as Russia, because, Donald Trump will be basically constraint in his relations with Russia and with China and with other countries. Russians expect this bill to go through and it would be very difficult for Trump to will to it, because the Senate can vote for it again with 2/3 and it will go through. Now the problem is of course that this political struggle which is going on in Washington, actually bemused struggle complicates relations between America and many countries. I think economically Russia can’t do much to hurt America in response to that, but politically it can do a lot actually in the Middle East, North Korea and other areas. So, it remains to be seen how president Putin’s views this situation and what he will decide to do.
Anchor: Even if Putin could do a lot politically, do you think Kremlin is thinking about how quickly they want to get this one?
Alexander Nekrassov: First of all the Kremlin was quite flexible. You know it gave Trump the time to sort out mess in Washington it was showing quite big flexibility. Now we have to understand the domestic pressures on Putin. The presidential election in Russia is approaching. And he will be one thing to be seen by the Russian people as a strong man, as somebody who stands up to America. This is why you must understand this is a delicate period. This is why I suspect the will be strong reaction once president Trump signs the bill. And this is m expect it will be some political pressure coming from Moscow on Washington because as I said the Russian domestic audience will expect that.
Anchor: There is a gap between US and European countries when it comes to this propose sanction. Do you think there is something that the Kremlin will see an opportunity to exploit?
Alexander Nekrassov: Obviously, because the European countries are also suffering from the sanctions which were introduced previously for Ukraine and it is quite costly for some of the biggest countries and they were not very happy about it, but now already Germany and Austria voicing their concerns because the new sanctions are touching the energy sector and this is very important for Europe. It is so ok for Trump and his people to say that it is not problem America will supply the energy to Europe, but this is not really what the Europeans are looking at because you know the Russia is a stable provider of energy and for somebody else to suddenly say well we are going to replace Russia that doesn’t work like that. So, yes there is concern in Europe over the sanctions and specifically because it is one-side decision by America it didn’t really come as a consultation and it didn’t come as a collective effort and it is punishment by the way for something that hasn’t been proven. So that sounds a bit odd.
Note that the Senate needs Trump's signature to implement new sanction bill against Russia and some other countries.
