New Sanctions: Who’s In and Who’s Out? Everyone Who's Anyone in Russia is Checking the List
Neither the authors of the black list or those who found themselves in it managed to clarify its logic or clearly articulate its purpose. The list does not introduce new sanctions. Then what’s the purpose?
Our analyst Tatyana Remizova reports.
- Tatyana, what was the first reaction to the list?
- Ernest, the are so many well-recognized names in the list, some even considered it an honor to be included in it.
Dmitri Medvedev, the Prime Minister of Russia: "If you are not in the list – then that might be the reason to step down. We will of course not do that though. The value of this list is "zero". It is almost of zero importance. Even if there are lists like this, there are no other people who the US government could communicate with. There are no other people for the United States to communicate with, other than these people — the people that the US could talk to. They simply do not exist. The US too has no other officials. Publishing such lists poisons our relationship".
There are 4 sections in the list: the administration of the President, followed clumsily by the human right activists, the second section is the government, the third one includes the leaders of power structures and political leaders, speakers of both houses of parliament. "Washington suffers from sanction mania", — said Valentina Matviyenko.
Valentina Matviyenko, the Chairwoman of the Federation Council: "The publication of this list on the eve of the presidential election is, of course, a glaring interference in the electoral process. It's an attempt to affect the sentiment of people, destabilize the society, reduce the level of support for the president, knowing that it is very high. Gentlemen, it is not up to you, but up to our people to decide who will lead the country".
Candidates and parties, who will struggle for the votes of the electors, reacted harshly to the attempts of intervention.
Gennady Zyuganov, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the RF Communist Party: "This is a powerful attack on the administration, because everyone was included in this list — all ministers, all leaders, all special services, all law-enforcement agencies, It's not about the sanctions, it is the declaration of a real war. They pretend to treat everyone as tycoons, but in fact they lead a ruthless struggle with our country, which is the main rival of the US".
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party: "They do not let us partake in Eurovision, the Olympic Games, they publish reports, introduce sanctions, detain journalists, arrest entrepreneurs, deny entrance to the deputies. Their goal is to humiliate us, They do it because they are afraid to start a war and because they don't know how to fight".
The only candidate for the presidency, who was on the list, the commissioner for rights of entrepreneurs Titov, took it as an honor, and even ordered a T-shirt with his number on the list. But human rights activists and sanctions are matters that are too far apart from each other.
Boris Titov, Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs’ Rights: "The sanctions are introduced against those people — Fedotov, Kuznetsova, as well as against me — the people, whose duty is to protect the rights of people every day. They do not want our civil society institutions to operate effectively".
The fourth section includes representatives of state companies and business: Gazprom, Rosneft, Sberbank, VTB, and then — to the letter — the Russian list of Forbes, starting with 1 billion dollars. The new "secret" list was announced to create intrigue. This means that at any time, any person undesirable to the US administration can end up in this list — for example, someone from energy or defense complex. A convenient way to go when you cannot win in a fair competition.
- Thank you, Tatyana. That was our analytic Tatyana Remizova, we continue our program.