RUSSIAN SANCTIONS

Since Russia's annexation of Crimea and the problems in Ukraine, both the E.U. and U.S.A. have introduced sanctions against Russia and named Russians. It was surely only a matter of time before Russia reacted to this, and now it has happened; all imports of agricultural products and foodstuffs from the E.U., U.S.A., Australia, Norway and Canada have been banned.

This will affect the different countries in different ways. For Denmark, where the agricultural sector is very important, it will hit hard. The loss is estimated at Dkr3.5 billion, roughly 30% of all exports to Russia and just under 2% of all exports. The dairy giant Arla has already announced the loss of 50-75 jobs, as milk and butter sales to Russia are curtailed.

The loss of basic food products will undoubtedly hit the ordinary Russian consumer just as much as Western firms. However, in the scheme of things, that is probably less of a problem for the Russian leadership than the loss of jobs is for Western politicians. What is clear is that sanctions are a very blunt tool to use as the basis for the relationship between the West and Russia. Sooner or later, the West is going to have to deal with Vladimir Putin in a different way. Unfortunately, I suspect that it will be later.

Walter Blotscher