Enough is Enough: Time to ‘Team Up With Russia’ - Austrian Economist

Austria has been hit hard by the EU sanctions against Russia and Vienna needs to establish direct and mutually-beneficial economic ties with Moscow, the head of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber Christoph Leitl said in an interview with the daily newspaper Der Standard.

“With so many hotspots of tension now existing in the world, it is high time we joined hands and started working together,” Leitl said.

He described the anti-Russian sanctions as “absurd” and bound to be lifted as much better results could be achieved at the negotiating table.

Christoph Leitl also mentioned the 3 billion euros’ worth of medical equipment and instruments some 1,200 Austrian companies sold to Russia in 2014.

“This year this figure has contracted by a hefty 40 percent,” he added.

Relations between Russia and the European Union soured in 2014, when Brussels joined Washington in accusing Moscow of fueling the Ukrainian crisis, imposing economic sanctions as a punitive measure.

The Russian authorities have refuted the allegations, warning that the Western sanctions are counterproductive.

In response to the West's restrictive measures, in August 2014 Russia announced a one-year food embargo on products originating in states that imposed sanctions. The ban has since been extended for another year.

On December 21 the European Council extended the economic sanctions against Russia for another six months over Moscow’s alleged failure to implement the provisions of the Minsk accords. The sanctions will now be in effect until July 31, 2016.