Some Russians believe that economic sanctions instituted by Europe and America in response to Putin's Crimea venture will not work. In fact, the West and especially France, might end up losing more than it gains. Sanctions have never seemed to work--Iran and Syria are still moving forward. And Cuba has faced US sanctions for over half a century and it has not forced Castro to change his policies.
Military cooperation with Russia has been suspended by the
UK and Germany in the wake of the recent events in Crimea.
However, EU sanctions on military-technical cooperation represent
one of the weakest links in the "fight" against Russia. Suffice it to
say that exports of European armaments make up not more than 1 percent of the
total amount of export-import contracts for Rosoboronexport, the Russian state
intermediary in arms deals.
After the U.S., Russia is the second largest supplier of
arms and military hardware in the world. Russian defense industry enterprises
have a full production cycle, from the base material to the end product. So, in
fact, EU sanctions on military-technical cooperation will have no serious
effect on Russia's defense capability.
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