Western Sanctions Signal ‘New Cold War’ Against Russia, Disregard WTO - Lawmaker

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Announcing sanctions against Russia, the West has in fact declared a new Cold War on Moscow, while the US has ignored the WTO rules by protecting its economy and dealing a blow to Russian and European companies, a deputy speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament said Thursday.

“To a large extent, a “Cold War” has been declared which is today expressed by devising sanctions,” Sergei Neverov told Rossiya-24 TV channel.

The Russian lawmaker also accused Washington of provoking unfair competition.

“Today, the United States and to a large extent, Europe, have neglected the World Trade Organization decisions and the WTO itself by introducing such steps and therefore protecting certain sectors of the US economy,” the lawmaker said.

“On the other hand, the US does not care about how Europe will suffer or the fact that many companies and European citizens will lose not less or even more than Russia,” Neverov said.

Earlier this week, US President Barack Obama said there is no new «cold war» with Moscow and the US will continue contacts with Russia, Ukraine and the EU to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
On June 29, the European Union and the United States announced new economic sanctions against Russia amid the Ukrainian crisis. Earlier in the day, the European Council gave its final approval to a new batch of “restrictive measures” against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis.

The decision came just two days after the 28-member bloc slapped additional economic sanctions on Russia, which limited its state-owned financial institutions' access to EU capital markets, imposed an embargo on trade in arms, established an export ban for dual-use goods for military end users, and curtailed the nation’s access to sensitive technologies, particularly in the oil sector.

The first round of sanctions against Russia was implemented by the United States and the European Union back in March as a response to Crimea’s reunification with Russia following a referendum. Moscow has repeatedly said that the measures are counterproductive, and labelled the sanctions “a road to nowhere."