“Putin feels euphoric”: analyst on lack of U.S. sanctions against Russia

Vadym Denysenko, head of the analytical center Dilova Stolytsia (Business Capital), shared his opinions on Espreso TV.

“Putin didn’t just need a meeting with Trump; he aimed to avoid conflict with him and buy as much time as possible regarding the tightening of sanctions against Russia. Nothing has changed since then, meaning his key objective is still to delay the moment when U.S. sanctions start hitting the Russian economy more seriously. At the moment, Putin is in a certain euphoria because he believes that in the near future, the United States will not be able to significantly strike Russia’s economy or its oil and gas revenues,” Vadym Denysenko commented.

In his view, there is a high likelihood that China has promised to buy the surplus Russian oil that was meant for India and which India will not be able to purchase in the near term.

“Putin will continue to buy time to prevent sanctions. We must understand that Russia has learned to circumvent any sanctions, which, of course, makes all processes more expensive, but this implies four months of turbulence for the Russian economy. By analogy with previous sanctions against Russia, the Russians need up to four months to adapt. In reality, Putin does not currently have those four months, so he is trying to do everything in his power not to clash with Trump and to prevent a situation where the U.S. could suddenly enter a harsh sanctions war against Russia,” the analyst concluded.

• On September 7, President of the United States Donald Trump confirmed that he is ready to move to the "second phase" of sanctions against Russia.