The sanctions war between Russia, the US, and the European Union continues to grow slowly, as Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced a “retaliatory” round of sanctions against Western officials.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich says that the sanctions “mirror” the most recent round of Western sanctions, which cover travel bans and asset seizures against myriad officials linked to the Russian government.
Interestingly, Russia did not name a single person who would be affected by the new “blacklist,” saying Western officials would find out if they are on the list when they try to cross the border into Russia in the future.
Russian President Putin is said to be reluctant to escalate the sanctions too much, and this latest round of anonymous sanctions is likely designed as a face-saving measure for the foreign ministry without having any practical impact, nor escalating the tit-for-tat sanctions.
Good! The meddlers deserve to find out the hard way that they've been blacklisted. They certainly have no qualms about secretly blacklisting their own citizens.
Kind of like the US's secret no-fly list – where the lucky ones don't find out until they have ticket in hand (non-refundable, of course) and they show up at the gate. But these kind of games do little to mitigate the overall antagonism. The Russians have the means to send an appropriate message. While the US is running around the Stans trying to cut off Putin at the pass, the Russians need to turn off the gas spigot for a bit, to remind the Europeans that the good relationships with Russia are a necessary arrangement. If they do it now, when demand is lower the message will clearly state the portent for the future when demand rises in the fall. Once the people of Europe start to see shortages they will remind their leaders that the people are the ones who they have to answer to in the long run.
"…the people of Europe… will remind their leaders that the people are the ones who they have to answer to in the long run."
A novel idea. How I wish it applied in the USA.
so true…
In plain English, Putin is backing off while trying to pretend he isn't! Let's hope he continues in that direction!
Hey Michael, trolling antiwar now that Chronicles Magazine sent you packing