With the beginning of the Russian 'special operation' in Ukraine (that's what Roskomnadzor tells Novaya Gazeta to call it under the threat of closing the newspaper), when peaceful Russian missiles began to hit Ukrainian 'military facilities' inhabited by civilians for some reason, the business world began to turn away from Russia, Novaya Gazeta writes.
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href="https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2022/02/27/eto-budet-venesuela-s-iadernymi-raketami" class="companylink" title="Novaya Gazeta">The manager of the international logistics company Uni International (USA), Mikhail Bobryshev, claims that cargo transportation to and from Russia fell before our eyes. Carriers on the go change the direction of transport, redirect cargo to other countries that went to Russia.
"Or, for example, combine harvesters were stuck in the USA, which were supposed to come to the port of St. Petersburg. This is a highly specialized technique designed for harvesting a specific type of grain. In Russia, these are not produced, only America produces them.
"The Japanese carrier K-Line simply refused to go to Russia and offered to unload the harvesters in the Belgian Zeebrugge, and then, they say, you will somehow do it yourself. Those who work with transportation, probably better than many, see how much Russia depends on imports of literally everything.
The point, Mikhail explains, is not only about sanctions on specific groups of goods. Cargo transportation towards Russia stops in principle, regardless of the goods.
“They refuse not only to carry some specific cargo to Russia, but even simply to make calls,†he continues.
"It started on Thursday, February 24, and on Friday it was already raining down, my whole computer was full of failures. Solid cancelled, cancelled, cancelled. Both what was planned, and what is on the way, what is already on the water - all transportation has been stopped.
"Down to bananas. Now I was talking with a colleague, he says 40 containers of bananas from Colombia and about the same number from Bolivia - a refusal. That is, they refused to ship the goods. These bananas will not get to Russia. If it goes like this, then soon there won't even be bananas in Russia.
"Perhaps someone was counting on the Chinese comrades, who would gladly take the place of exporters who had turned their backs on Russia. This hope is also shattered by data on container traffic of recent days: according to Mikhail's observations, deliveries are being stopped in this direction as well. Fearing US sanctions, carriers are refusing to take cargo from China as well.
"“Russia's share in Chinese exports is about 10% of what they supply to America,†says Mikhail. — Of course, the American market is much more important for the Chinese. If the US announces sanctions, China usually does not violate them. The American market for Chinese suppliers is everything, and Russia is a small part.
"Maybe the Chinese will have sympathy for Russia, but there will be no cargo. In addition, the Chinese yuan is a non-convertible currency, settlements with China in dollars went through Hong Kong banks, Singaporean banks. Under the sanctions regime, China will not want to settle accounts with Russia." ■