The extension of sanctions on Russia is simply an exercise in propaganda with no real consequences, and one part of the US strategy to impose its dominance over the world, Finnish politician and businessman Jon Hellevig told Radio Sputnik.
"It's just the USA reminding the western elite that the sanctions war is going on … it's just a PR trick," Hellevig said about the sanctions list announced by the US Treasury on Tuesday, which targeted new individuals and entities with sanctions.
"A few more individuals, a few more subsidiaries here and there, it's just a ploy to get into the headlines for the USA, to remind that Russia is under their sanctions."
Though the US claims its sanctions are related to the Ukraine crisis, they have been extended as the conflict in the east of the country de-escalates, a sign that they are rather part of a broad policy aimed at imposing US dominance at the expense of Russia, said Hellevig.
"It has never had anything to do with Ukraine. Ukraine is only a reason that they invented for imposing sanctions. They were seeking sanctions policies in connection with many other issues earlier, there was this gay propaganda thing and other things, they were trying to build up to a situation that they could impose sanctions."
"I don't think there will be new consequences, the consequences are here already, and those are that Russia has finally understood what the USA is up to, and Russia has very strongly during the last two years increasingly started to make their own countermeasures."
"Russia has now emerged with a totally independent foreign policy, so that sanctions war which the US started has actually led to Russia becoming an independent state which is acting on the world scene, and Syria is the best example of that."
"Twenty years ago, the West was 80 percent of the world economy, more or less. Today, they are less than 50, I would say they are about 40 percent, so Russia has all the other countries of the world to trade with."
