MOSCOW, 7 Mar. Severing ties with Russia will have serious consequences for France. France Info came to this conclusion. France depends on the supply of strategically important Russian raw materials, for example, non-ferrous metals used in the aviation and automotive sectors. The main part of Russian exports to France in recent years has been iron ore and non-ferrous metals such as aluminum. Among the metals are also palladium (used to make converters for cars), titanium (for the aviation industry), nickel, cobalt (batteries, wind turbines), tungsten (electronics), platinum and copper. Despite the fact that France has reduced its dependence on fossil sources energy, Russian coal is still a «tasty morsel» for it, notes France info. In 2020, about 30% of coal imported into the country came from Russia. Earlier, the Egyptian publication Noonpost said that the new anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the West would not achieve their goal. Clemens Greif, an economist at Goldman Sachs, one of the world's largest investment banks, said in turn that Russia would successfully overcome the situation caused by Western sanctions in six to nine months.
In China, they said that the United States miscalculated with sanctions against RussiaRussia launched a military operation in Ukraine early in the morning on Thursday, February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops, civilian the population is not in danger. With the support of the Russian military, the DPR and LPR groups are developing an offensive. But the occupation of Ukraine is out of the question, Putin emphasized earlier. In response, Western countries announced a new round of the sanctions spiral, which has been unwinding since 2014. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the sanctions very serious, according to him, Russia was preparing for them in advance. He added that they require analysis and coordination of departments in order to develop response measures that are in line with Russian interests.
