MOSCOW, August 8 (RIA Novosti) - The European Union does not want to get trapped in a vicious circle of sanctions and countermeasures, in which the countries feel obliged to exchange more and more restrictions, foreign policy expert at Carnegie Europe, Richard Youngs, told International Information Agency Rossiya Segodnya.
According to Youngs, the possible closure of Russian skies to European airlines could be exactly the step that the European Union has always feared, the one that signifies “getting into a vicious circle or a descending spiral, when one country makes a step, and another country responds.”
Youngs added that now the question is whether the European Union will feel obliged to undertake new sanctions against Russia. However, if it does come up with new restrictions, “this will contradict the very approach of the EU towards the sanctions problem.”
The analyst has also pointed out that now is the first time when the sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union will have a tangible negative effect on its own member countries.
“Sanctions will cost thousands of jobs and will seriously affect the fragile European economic growth. The economic effect that the sanctions will have on the countries like Italy, that are now sliding back to recession, is expected to be especially notable,” Youngs explained.
On August 7, Russia announced a year-long ban on importing food products from the United States, Canada, the European Union, Australia and Norway. The Russian countermeasures followed multiple US and EU sanctions designed to target Russia’s financial, energy and defense sectors.
