American flags in Washington. Archival photoMOSCOW, Apr 21The US closure of its ports to Russian ships is symbolic, in fact there are no consequences, according to Ilya Kramnik, a researcher at the Center for North American Studies at the IMEMO RAS. Earlier, US President Joe Biden said, that Washington is banning Russian-flagged, owned, or used ships from its ports under sanctions because of the military operation in Ukraine. .jpg» />US closed ports for Russian ships»Essentially no (consequences). We have a very small and negligible exchange with the US on our ships. Now it has practically ceased, taking into account the previously imposed sanctions on cooperation with Russian enterprises. Roughly speaking , even if we wanted to take something out on a Russian ship, we could not buy it,» the expert commented to RIA Novosti. The main number of ships and There are a number of private Russian yachts under the Russian flag that have at least somehow called at American ports, but this activity has curtailed, he added. «So this is a purely symbolic gesture.» Kramnik said. He also noted that Russian ships also practically did not call at American ports for refueling, since they lie far from the main routes of Russian ships. The expert did not rule out that the United States may try to force other countries to refuse to accept Russian ships.
