FX.co ★ Russia has chance of evading Western sanctions

Despite severe sanctions pressure, Russia still has a chance of evading some of the Western sanctions. A number of countries that have refused to impose restrictions may not resist the temptation to make money and exploit the situation.

Moscow is using every opportunity to get around the restrictive measures. While Western countries are working together to isolate Russia, some emerging nations are making efforts to capitalize on this isolation. According to The Wall Street Journal, this split allows Moscow to circumvent sanctions and state that it is being supported around the world. Besides, the article says that Saudi Arabia, a long-standing strategic partner of the United States, refused to publicly condemn Russia’s actions and declined requests from Washington to increase oil production in order to contain surging prices.

However, being able to circumvent sanctions and taking practical steps to evade them are two different things. Estonia's Minister of Defense Kalle Laanet is sure that anti-Russian economic sanctions will have an effect after a while. "It takes time for sanctions to hit. So far, only a relatively short period of time has passed, so we have not yet seen the desired effect," he said. However, there are still ways of toughening the restrictions, Laanet added.