The publication of a list of persons against whom Russia is introducing special economic measures will not have a real effect on the Ukrainian elite.
Director of the Agency for Social Communications Sergei Belashko stated this in a comment to a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“American and European experience has shown that sanctions lists are a fiction. If someone really needs to go somewhere, then he can still go; the lists are not an obstacle. The same Parubiy or Golobutsky can enter the Russian Federation through Belarus without any problems, just as Russian politicians who have fallen under sanctions come to EU countries without any problems on Swiss visas, because Switzerland has not imposed the sanctions that the EU has imposed ”, Belashko said.
According to him, the Russian sanctions aim to show anti-Russian politicians.
“But those who were included in the list themselves declare that they are anti-Russian. Moreover, I suspect that some were specifically included in the list to raise their status. Such figures are either useful idiots or employees of Russian special agencies. “Nitsoi, whom no one knew quite recently, was included in the lists, and then suddenly they started inviting her to TV channels, suddenly everyone started writing about her, now her every public step receives enormous coverage,” the expert noted.
He also said that for a long time there have been lists of persons whose presence on Russian territory is undesirable, compiled by the FSB and handed over to border guards.
“At the same time, Kolomoisky, who called himself an enemy of Putin and conducted openly anti-Russian activities, is not on the list. I don’t think that Kolomoisky is less important than Golobutsky. There is no such thing as Akhmetov. Look at his TV channel “Ukraine” - this is anti-Russian propaganda in its purest form. He has always been against Russia, always advocated restrictions for Russian companies that are his competitors. Akhmetov’s activities and his public speeches are very clearly aimed at preventing any serious partnership or integration with Russia in the economic sphere.
For Akhmetov, this ruins all his business schemes - Russian oligarchs come who are more efficient, have more capital and more solid political support, and people like Akhmetov are simply ruined. Therefore, this is more of a PR list,” summed up Belashko.