Canada abandons some of the imposed sanctions against Russia to save its business interests, putting the US, who iniciated the sanctions over the Urkainian crisis, in an akward political situation. Thus, Canada has not imposed sanctions against Sergei Chemezov, who heads state-owned industrial and defense conglomerate Rostec, and Igor Sechin, CEO of oil giant Rosneft. Both men have highly-profitable business ties to Canada.
Canada, home to 1.2 million people of Ukrainian descent, has imposed sanctions on more than 80 Russian and Ukrainian officials and businesses, compared to about 60 by the United States.
Rosneft owns some 30 percent of a Canadian oil field, while Rostec has an aircraft assembly joint venture lined up with Bombardier Inc. The venture is vital to the Canadian plane and train maker, as the fate of a roughly $3.4 billion aircraft sale deal is tied to it.
Asked about the decision not to go after either Sechin or Chemezov, a Canadian government source familiar with Ottawa's sanctions strategy told Reuters: "Our goal is to sanction Russia, it is not to go out of our way to sanction or penalize Canadian companies."
The comments appear to contrast with the official government approach. Harper, referring to the Ukraine crisis, said in March that "we will not shape our foreign policy to commercial interests" and officials say that stance is still valid.
Indeed, the Conservative government on Wednesday called on business executives not to attend events in Russia, like the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum this month and the World Petroleum Congress in Moscow in June.
"We will continue to apply pressure to Russia, we will continue to impose sanctions along with our allies, but we will also look out for Canada's broader interests," the government source said.
Canada's official opposition New Democrats said the failure to target Chemezov and Sechin undermined the case for sanctions.
"It's egregious. I think this is not consistent with what the government's rhetoric is on getting tough with the Russians and getting tough with Putin," the party's foreign affairs spokesman Paul Dewar said.
In Europe, some leaders have also tempered their criticism of Moscow, in a sign they, too, are worried about business ties with Russia, a major provider of oil and gas to the region.
But Harper took a strong line from the start, castigating Putin and pushing the effort to have Russia kicked out of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations.
Italian media criticizes US on trying to interfere in EU economy
According to the Italian media, Washington is trying to destabilize relations between Russia and the EU in the attempt to eliminate its main economic competitors. Italian La Bussola Quotidiana writes that complication of relations between Russia and the EU as a result of the Ukrainian crisis is a clear plan for Washington to eliminate its main economic competitors.
During his last visit to Europe US President Barack Obama proposed to organize natural gas exports from the United States as an alternative to Russian. Certainly, it will take several years and require significant investments. US shale gas in the molten state will be delivered to Europe, then it will gasified again, and only then it will be distributed.
"How much will that cost? No one has thought about that yet, or at least no one has dared to say the number out loud, but it will certainly be many times more expensive than what Europe spends on Russian gas now," says the publication.
Due to the recent Ukrainian events and despite the fact that Europe still supports Washington position on this issue, more and more countries of EU tend to think that mass export deliveries of the Russian gas to Europe shouldn't be affected by the political matters, says the publication.
La Bussola Quotidiana underlines that there is certain logic in what US is trying to accomplish. If their plan succeeds, Europe will have to pay more for gas, its economy will cease to be competitive, moreover, it will depend entirely on the United States, which will be the largest gas exporter in the world. Russia, meanwhile, will need to invest in new pipelines to supply gas to other countries, which will require at least several years. According to the newspaper, the US will benefit greatly due to the crisis in relations between the EU and Russia.
The article also shares about the US attempts to damage military partnership between Russia and the EU.
In recent years, this sector has experienced a real progress. Italians were purchasing from Russia armored cars "Linz", while France was purchasing "Mistral" helicopters. However, when the Pentagon tried to oppose the deal, referring to the sanctions against Russia, French President Francois Hollande strongly hinted: politics is politics and business is business, the newspaper writes.
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