U.S. Drip of Sanctions Risks Putin Backlash
By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Ilya Arkhipov and Kasia Klimasinska Apr 29, 2014 9:40 AM ET
The latest U.S. penalties against Vladimir Putin’s inner circle may provoke the Russian president into escalating the Ukraine crisis without crippling key sectors of his nation’s economy.
The sanctions imposed by the Obama administration yesterday on seven officials and 17 companies won’t go unanswered, with the statement by the White House press secretary “prompting disgust,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in comments published on the ministry’s website. Russia is preparing retaliatory measures in response to the latest round of sanctions, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said today, according to Interfax.
While markets showed relief as Russia’s largest banks avoided U.S. measures, Putin may take this round personally, according to Konstantin Simonov, president of Russia’s National Energy Security Foundation.
“Putin has been declared evil” and singled out personally by the U.S., Simonov said. “He won’t be able to respond economically, so he’ll retaliate politically. There will be escalation in the east of Ukraine and a new spiral of sanctions.”
Warned by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about making an “expensive mistake” in Ukraine, Putin has seen his approval rating at home soar to a six-year high after the seizure of Crimea.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-29/u-s-drip-feed-of-sanctions-seen-risking-putin-backlash.html