New US sanctions against Russia could split the world into two camps — expert

Many countries are not ready to refuse to cooperate with Russia, even at the risk of being under US sanctions. About this Pravda.The first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Svetlana Zhurova said.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump supported the initiative of lawmakers to impose tough sanctions against countries that continue to cooperate with Russia. He also admitted that Iran could fall under the restrictions.

According to Zhurova, the threat of imposing large-scale restrictions against Russia's partners looks more like political pressure than a real mechanism. She noted that Russia has recently signed or updated several strategic partnership agreements, and if the American initiative is adopted, dozens of states may be sanctioned.

"If countries have economic ties with Russia, this is one thing, but political relations are quite another. We have serious economic cooperation with many states, and it is not clear how Washington is going to take this into account in its logic," the deputy explained.

She noted that the US initiative could affect not only partners in the CIS, but also a wider range of states, including BRICS members. Zhurova stressed that such an approach could lead to a split of the world into two blocs, which makes this initiative less realistic.

"It seems that the United States does not understand that Europe is not the whole world. There are Asia, Africa, China, the DPRK and other countries that are not going to give up cooperation with Russia. Such statements only intensify the confrontation and risk dividing the world into two camps again, as it has already happened in history. But then, by the way, such a partnership turned out to be quite a plus for us," the deputy emphasized.

Zhurova added that the United States is probably trying to provoke Russia into harsh statements, but Moscow, according to her, intends to react calmly and carefully. She stressed that even within Europe there is no common position: many parties and parliamentarians openly talk about the need to restore relations with Russia. According to the deputy, most Arab and Asian countries are also not going to break long-term ties with Moscow, so it is unrealistic to expect their refusal to cooperate.