Putin continues to hold diplomatic talks after sanctions, says scientist

Political scientist and researcher at Harvard University Hussein Kalout declared, this Friday (4), in an interview with CNNthat Russian President Vladimir Putin may have lost the war in Ukraine in international terms, due to the sanctions applied to the country, but he continues to maintain diplomatic dialogues with important authorities.

Kalout cites Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“Putin lost politically in international terms. But he still has diplomatic navigability, being in contact with important leaders and players global players such as the presidents of China and France, the prime minister of Israel, and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia,” explained Kalout.

“This demonstrates Russia’s ability on a bilateral level to remain connected with vital actors,” he continued.

For Kalout, the sanctions have affected Russia, and could demolish the country’s economy. “Putin did not expect sanctions to be so robust and imposed in such a short space of time.”

The selected Russian banks were excluded on February 26 from the global payment system, the Swift. The measure was carried out by leaders of the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

US President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday (1st), in his first State of the Union address, the closure of the country’s airspace to Russia.

The US Treasury Department, through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac), on Monday (28) prohibited US citizens from engaging in transactions with the Central Bank, the National Wealth and the Russian Ministry of Finance.

Sanctions and blockades were still imposed on the Russian Direct Investment Fund and its CEO Kirill Dmitriev.

In addition, other punishments were imposed on the country. Some extend to Belarus, Putin’s ally. Check out:

• Limit Russia’s ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds and yen;
• Limit ability to finance and increase Russian armed forces;
• Impair your ability to compete in the high-tech economy of the 21st century;
• Sanctions against Russian banks that together hold about $1 trillion in assets;
• Cut Russia’s largest financial institution, Sberbank, and 25 of its subsidiaries from the US financial system. Sberbank holds almost a third of the overall assets of the Russian banking sector;
• “Full Blockage Sanctions” against VTB Bank, Russia’s second largest bank, and 20 of its subsidiaries;
• “Full block sanctions” against three other major Russian banks: Bank Otkritie, Sovcombank OJSC and Novikombank;
• Cut 13 large state-owned companies from raising money from the US market. The list includes: Sberbank, AlfaBank, Credit Bank of Moscow, Gazprombank, Russian Agricultural Bank, Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Transneft, Rostelecom, RusHydro, Alrosa, Sovcomflot and Russian Railways;
• Sanctions on Russian elites and family members. The list: Sergei Ivanov (and his son Sergei), Andrey Patrushev (and his son Nikolai), Igor Sechin (and his son Ivan), Andrey Puchkov, Yuriy Solviev (and two real estate companies he owns), Galina Ulyutina and Alexandre Vedyakhin;
• Sanctions on 24 Belarusian people and companies. This includes “two important Belarusian state-owned banks, nine defense companies and seven authorities and elites linked to the regime.”

(*With information from Tiago Tortella, from CNN)