Russian Ripples

Obviously, the news surrounding Russia, the Ukraine, and Crimea continues to dominate the world’s news headlines, with several threads of thought comprising the majority of the conservation and debate. The vast majority of the debate and concern revolve around the possibility of further Russian aggression and expansion toward other former Soviet satellites. Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, and Moldova are just a few of the areas that have come under much greater scrutiny in the last several weeks as a result of Russian actions in the Crimean peninsula.

The economic story, however, is arguably even more important.

The Russian Federation was effectively kicked out of the G-8, and the G-8 summit that was planned to occur in Moscow has been cancelled. The Russian Federation shrugged off this banishment, much as the leadership has shrugged off the economic sanctions that have been placed on various individuals and institutions. Reports, however,confirm that capital outflows can total up to $70 billion, according to the most recent estimates. In addition to these sanctions and economic impacts that have occurred to date, Russia has started issuing reciprocating sanctions against other economic entities. The E.U., the U.S., and most recently Canada have all been served with sanctions from Russia within the last several weeks.

With that in mind, here are a few of the areas where the business world could suffer

1) Energy — oil & natural gas exports are obviously at the top of the chart
2) Nuclear exports — Russia is the world’s top exporter of nuclear technology
3) Foreign Direct Investment — inter-country investment totals in the hundreds of billions of dollars between these entities
4) Tourism — travel and tourism, although not often talked about, is a large economic area in its own right

Happy Reading!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101522105

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101520428

http://rt.com/news/russia-sanctions-canada-ukraine-905/