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 | Daily News Brief July 30, 2014 |
Top of the Agenda
Russia Reacts to New U.S., EU Sanctions
Russia's central bank on Wednesday (WaPo)
promised to help financial institutions targeted by the West, a day
after the European Union and United States ratcheted sanctions on
Russia's defense, finance, and energy industries. The coordinated
measures exacerbate tensions that Russian president Vladimir Putin is balancing between business tycoons and nationalists (FT). Meanwhile, Belarus said it will host talks (Reuters) between Ukraine and Russia, while Dutch-led investigators once again failed to reach the Malaysia Airlines crash site (Bloomberg) even as the Ukrainian army continued to make advances against rebels in the country's east.
Analysis
"There would appear to be inexorable momentum for further sanctions:
(1) Europe now is less of a constraint on further U.S. action; (2)
Ukraine is achieving success on the battlefield, and without intensified
Russian involvement would likely see further gains. If recent evidence
of Russian shelling across the border is any indication, Russia has
intensified its support in response to developments on the ground, which
is justification for further sanctions; and (3) sanctions are likely to
be extended over time in response to evasion," writes CFR's Robert
Kahn.
"This change of view makes all the more troubling France's continued determination to deliver
at least one of the two Mistral-class warships it is building for
Russia for 1.2 billion euros, or about $1.6 billion. The Mistral is not
heavily armed, but it is a serious military asset," writes the New York Times' board in an editorial.
"An
improvement in the international climate is nevertheless unlikely
without political change in Russia. For what makes Mr Putin so
confrontational on the world stage is, at bottom, an awareness that
Russia's post-communist attempt at building a modern state and society is running into the sands," writes the Financial Times in an editorial.
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