"The members of the Association are convinced that the US Treasury’s Report increases the uncertainty in the Russian business environment and can also affect the interests of European investors, European companies doing business in, or trading with Russia," the AEB said in a statement.
The Association also stated it reiterates calls on leaders of the EU, the US, and Russia to refrain from actions, which "can undermine the prospects of future economic cooperation, and find a common, mutually acceptable, solution of political problems in the spirit of peace and conciliation."
EU's Possible Economic Losses
The European companies have lost hundreds of billions of dollars due to US anti-Russian sanctions while these sanctions could be beneficial for Russia in the long run, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Tuesday.
"They [the sanctions] did cause damage but, primarily, not to us, because… we were forced to fill the newly formed technological niches with our own production. Regarding the short-, medium- and long-term interests of our country, it is even beneficial," Rogozin told reporters.
According to Rogozin, Russia's European partners have suffered the most (from US sanctions), because they have lost the Russian market and cannot now sell their technology to Moscow.
The US Treasury Department "the Kremlin report," a list of the senior 114 Russian politicians and 96 businessmen who might be sanctioned by the US administration, on Monday. The release has caused a barrage of criticism in the Russian establishment with President Putin calling the step an "unfriendly act" and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev forecasting the deterioration of bilateral ties. US Treasury Secretary said also that the report will trigger new anti-Russia sanctions.
