Bryza: Sanctions have devastating effects on Russian economy

The Chinese market won’t be able to replace Western supplies to Russia, Matthew Bryza, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, and international expert, told Report.

He was commenting on the sanctions imposed against Russia by Western countries.

“These sanctions are designed to destroy Russia’s economy and they are already having devastating effects. The ruble has plummeted, the Moscow stock market is collapsing, and prices of all imports will skyrocket, while Individual Russians will lack access to foreign currency. China has not shown a readiness to fill the economic gap,” Bryza noted.

Since the beginning of Russia’s hostilities in Ukraine on February 24, Western countries have imposed a number of rather tough sanctions against Russia. In particular, on February 27, the German government announced the disconnection of Russian banks from SWIFT.

Blocking sanctions were imposed on VTB, Sovcombank, Novikombank, Otkritie Bank, Promsvyazbank and Rossiya Bank. At the same time, the EU is studying the possibility of disconnecting another part of Russian banks from SWIFT.