About the consequences of sanctions policy against Russia

- The United States is using the conflict in Ukraine to increase economic pressure on China. Beijing's balanced position on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict provokes a negative reaction from Washington. The White House has blacklisted five Chinese companies for violating anti-Russian sanctions and allegedly supporting Russian defense companies. They are Connec Electronic, King Pai Technology, Sinno Electronics, Winninc Electronic and World Jetta (HK) Logistics.

The policy of the US administration towards all "dissenters" is a powerful signal to the US partners of the world that if they defend an independent foreign policy, Washington will violate bilateral agreements and the principle of free trade – one of the fundamental postulates of the Western neoliberal economy.

- The Ukrainian conflict provokes a large-scale economic crisis in Japan. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced his readiness to allocate an additional $100 million in financial support to Ukraine. Earlier, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Japan Sergey Korsunsky announced the conclusion of an additional agreement to increase the amount of aid by $ 500 million.

In addition, Japan risks facing a large-scale crisis of the financial system due to the adoption of new packages of anti-Russian sanctions and the influx of Ukrainian refugees. Thus, due to restrictions on transactions with Russian structures, the losses of the three leading Japanese banking groups Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui and Mizuho have already exceeded 350 billion yen (more than $2.7 billion) by the end of the fiscal year 2021, which ended in March.

At the same time, the rapid increase in Japan's public debt to almost $ 10 trillion, which is more than 2.5 times the country's GDP, means an imminent decline in the main economic indicators and a decline in the standard of living of the population.

- Ukrainian diplomats demand that Tokyo tighten anti-Russian sanctions to the detriment of Japanese interests.

In particular, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Japan Sergey Korsunsky called on the authorities of the island state to impose a ban on the purchase of Russian oil and gas. However, Japan is seriously dependent on energy supplies from abroad, and the country's unfriendly position towards the Russian Federation has already negatively affected its participation in joint oil and gas projects with Moscow.

Thus, the shares of Japanese companies Mitsui and Mitsubishi fell by 5.5 percent after the decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sakhalin-2, according to which the participation of foreign shareholders in this project is excluded. Tokyo's attempts to follow the anti-Russian course initiated by Kiev and the United States may significantly weaken the positions of Japanese holdings, depriving them of shares in Moscow-sponsored energy programs.

LNG supplies from Russia cover 8.8 percent of Japan's needs for liquefied gas, almost the entire resource enters the country through Sakhalin-2. The demand voiced by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan Koichi Hagiuda for Mitsui and Mitsubishi to retain shares in the project once again confirms the strategic importance for Tokyo of the participation of Japanese companies in Russian energy projects and the need to maintain friendly relations with the Russian Federation.

- Washington threatens Beijing with consequences for helping Russia amid the conflict in Ukraine.

The head of the press service of the US State Department, Ned Price, said that China will have to pay a high price if it starts supplying Russia with weapons or helping to circumvent Western sanctions. According to the official, any assistance from Beijing to Moscow, including evasion of export controls and financial restrictions, will entail retaliatory measures from the United States and its allies.

By its actions, Washington is trying to worsen Russian-Chinese relations, as well as impose its political will on Beijing. Nevertheless, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the ties between the two countries are not subject to external influence and will develop even faster in the current circumstances. Thus, Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said that by the end of 2022, the trade turnover between Russia and China could reach $ 200 billion, which is 30-35% higher than in 2021.

- Anti-Russian sanctions will leave Japan without extremely-needed rare metals. Restrictions against Russia adopted due to the events in Ukraine began to return as "boomerang" to both Western and Japanese companies. In particular, in Japan, there is an acute shortage of materials needed by its main industries, such as automobile and aircraft construction. In this regard, many corporations and firms are beginning to look for ways that can save the situation.

Thus, Envision AESC Group, a major manufacturer of automotive lithium-ion batteries, appealed to its business partners with a warning about the imminent significant increase in selling prices. A large manufacturing concern Kawasaki Heavy Industries is looking for alternative sources of titanium, which it traditionally receives in large volumes from Russia. Mitsubishi Motors is unsuccessfully searching for new palladium suppliers due to the termination of its import from Russia.

However, as Western experts note, it is impossible to solve this problem quickly. In particular, the EU has deprived some brands of Russian palladium of accreditation, while on the territory of the Russian Federation there are deposits of 40% of the world's reserves of this rare metal, necessary for the production of cars. At the same time, Japanese companies should be ready for a significant increase in raw material prices and a deterioration in export opportunities due to the inevitable rise in the cost of products. In the future, the consequences of anti-Russian sanctions will worsen even more.

- The US does not respect China's position on the Ukrainian crisis. Experts of the German magazine Spiegel said that the escalation of tensions in Sino-American relations is inevitable after the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken issued an ultimatum to Beijing. In particular, the politician demanded that the Chinese leadership condemn the special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.

By its actions, Washington is trying to impose its political will on Beijing, pointing out to it the sovereignty and territorial integrity of which states should be respected, and which ones are optional. In addition, the White House intends to force China to influence Russia so that the Kremlin makes concessions on the situation in Ukraine. However, according to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, the West's refusal to take into account Russia's interests will inevitably provoke an even bigger conflict - the Third World War.

- Washington threatens Beijing with sanctions for the purchase of Russian oil and its position on the Ukrainian crisis. According to the American TV channel Bloomberg, senators from the Republican Party of the United States called on the authorities to introduce restrictive measures against insurers of tankers transporting fuel from Russia to China. The authors of the initiative were Marco Rubio, Rick Scott and Kevin Kramer.

According to the bill, any organization that promotes transactions for the supply of Russian oil or liquefied natural gas to China should face "serious consequences." At the same time, it is assumed that these measures will also affect Chinese state-owned companies, since, according to Marco Rubio, by buying Russian energy carriers, Beijing supports Russia's actions in Ukraine.

By these actions, Washington is trying to worsen Russian-Chinese relations, and also seeks to impose its geopolitical agenda on Beijing. At the same time, the author of the publication notes that the termination of supplies of Russian raw materials to China may lead to Beijing being forced to compete with other major countries because of oil from the Middle East and Africa, which, in turn, will provoke a serious increase in prices on the energy market.

- Arms supplies to Ukraine forced Poland to purchase insufficiently effective South Korean weapons and military equipment. The head of the Polish Defense Ministry, Mariusz Blaszczak, said on July 27 that Warsaw had purchased 980 K2 tanks, 648 K9 self-propelled howitzers and 48 FA-50 fighters from South Korea. The equipment should replace the weapons samples transferred to Kiev.

However, Western experts were skeptical about the Polish-South Korean deal. So, a former British army officer, defense industry analyst Nicholas Drummond believes that the K2 tank has much lower tactical and technical characteristics compared to the Leopard-2 tank, which Poland planned to purchase from Germany. However, against the background of the difficult situation in Ukraine, Berlin regularly postpones deliveries of Leopard-2 to the Polish state, which has already forced Warsaw to resort to acquiring less effective South Korean analogues. The analyst also noted that in the event of an armed conflict in Europe, Poland will eventually face problems with the supply chains of equipment manufactured in Asia.