The decision of the US President Barack Obama to extend financial and economic sanctions against Russia and Crimea for one year is politically based and won’t affect the economy of Crimea. The “chairman” of the Accounts Chamber Anatoliy Zaichenko informed about that.
“This question should be considered only politically. By making such decision, Washington makes it clear for the whole world community and all right-minded people that the USA don’t need a calm and peaceful situation in Europe. By extending the sanctions, the United States say that they are interested in heating up the conflict at the center of Europe,” Zaichenko believes.
According to him, the sanctions won’t affect the situation in Crimea because the economy of the peninsula doesn’t depend from the USA at all. Also this question “became irrelevant” for the Russian companies, the normal operation of which was restricted to some extent by the sanctions, “long ago since these companies have already adapted to the new conditions.”
As a reminder, the US companies including the ones offering their services online stopped the cooperation with Crimea as a result of sanctions. In particular, the Google AdSense service stopped working with Crimea, Google blocked the download of updates for its browser Chrome and limited access to the Google Play application store for the Crimeans. The international financial services PayPal and Payoneer also stopped to provide services for the residents of Crimea. Visa and Master Card stopped working in Crimea even earlier.
As reference. The USA introduced a series of sanction measures against Russia and Crimea after the annexation of Crimea. On March 4, the US President Barack Obama extended the sanctions for one year giving as a reason that there is a threat to security and foreign policy of the United States.
