RIA Novosti: Opinion: West Should Think Twice Before Imposing New Sanctions Against Russia

Truck at Russian Border Crossing

MOSCOW, May 23 (RIA Novosti) – The West should not rush to impose further sanctions against Russia as they could have an extremely negative effect on the global financial system, Chair of the Government Department at Harvard University Timothy Colton told RIA Novosti.

“The West should think twice, think very carefully about extending the sanctions, because it could end up undermining the system as a whole, or perhaps encouraging some members of it to look elsewhere to construct a counter system,” Colton said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

As for the economic relations between Russia and the West, Colton stressed that the EU is in a tougher position than the US due to larger trade flows with Russia.

“Obviously things are very tense right now on a political and government to government level, economic relations continue. America-Russia trade is relatively quite small, but of course Russia’s trade with the Europea n Union is very large,” Colton told RIA Novosti.

“Russia is exploring other options, as we can see with the gas deal with China. But I think we are going to have a very difficult period here, the question is how long it is going to be,” Colton said.

On Wednesday, Russia and China signed a 30-year $400 billion gas supply contract. The supply volume will total 38 billion cubic meters per year.

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