(ANSA) – ROME, June 27 – Gold exports “are Russia’s second most profitable export after energy – about 19 billion dollars a year – and most of it is destined for the G7 countries. So cutting it off, denying access to about $ 19 billion in revenue a year, is significant. ” This was stated by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an interview with CNN, reported on the website of the State Department.
“Everything we have done since the beginning, by imposing these unprecedented sanctions and export controls, is having a profound impact on Russia,” Blinken argues. Even if it gets higher oil prices, it is unable to spend it at because of export controls It cannot buy what it needs to modernize its defense sector, to modernize its technology, to modernize its energy exploration, which means that over time each of these areas will decline.
Already today, the Russian economy is expected to shrink by eight to fifteen percent next year. The ruble is artificially supported at a high price “.
The US secretary of state further states that “a thousand companies, large international companies, have left Russia. They had products that were still on the shelves when they left, but now supplies have dwindled. The Russians have no longer been able to buy what they used to buy. The standard of living of the Russians is falling. ” All of this, he adds, “has an immediate effect, but also a cumulative effect. We have seen a brain drain from Russia: 200,000 Russians, among the most educated, working in some of the most important sectors, are gone. Many are gone. foreigners who work in those same industries have left. All this accumulates over time, accumulates, accumulates “. (HANDLE).
Source: Ansa
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