Page 20 - RusRPTJul19

and prevent future meddling.
President Vladimir Putin extended Russia’s food embargo until December 31, 2020, the Kremlin said on June 24. Russia banned the import of certain types of food from the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway in 2014 in response to sanctions imposed by the west on Russia following the annexation of the Crimea. Later, the embargo was extended to a number of other countries that supported anti-Russian sanctions, including Ukraine. The ban included, in particular, the supply of meat, fish, dairy products, fruits and nuts. The decision comes a week after the European Union (EU) extended its sanctions on Russia for a year for failing to comply with the terms of the Minsk accords that were designed to end the conflict in Donbas. Trade between Russia and the EU has been hurt by the sanctions and counter-sanctions regime, falling by some €100bn in the last four years to around €200bn. During Putin’s call-in last week said that western restrictions had cost Russia $50bn, but they had cost the European Union more – some $240bn – in missed opportunities since 2014. "According to expert data, western restrictions cost Russia $50bn in missed opportunities over the years, starting from 2014, the European Union [lost] $240bn, the United States lost $17bn, though our turnover with them is small, and Japan – $27bn. All this affects jobs in these countries," he said.
The annual "Direct line" national live televised phone-in with Russia's President Vladimir Putin on June 20 did not reveal any major economic or geopolitical policy shifts, as was largely expected by the analysts. Putin’s main message was support for the status quo and did not surprise. The analysts concluded that overall, Putin’s latest Q&A session was "perhaps the most defensive and the least revealing of the seventeen similar events that he staged as president."
2.11 Polls & Sociology
The number of Russians who consider the United States a hostile country dropped to 67% from 78% a year ago, a May survey conducted by the independent Levada Center showed on June 14. Those who consider Ukraine a hostile country dropped from 49% to 40%. Russians’ negative attitude toward the United States and Ukraine dropped because citizens are less interested in geopolitics and more concerned about prices and wages, political analyst Aleksei Makarkin told Vedomosti. Some Russians may also be hopeful that a new leader in Ukraine will lead to better relations between the two nations, Levada Center Director Lev Gudkov told the paper.
Rosstat’s latest labour market survey, which is based on the methodology of the International Labour Organization (ILO), finds that the employed population (aged 15−72 years) fell by about 1% y/y in the first quarter of this year. The contraction in the number of
unemployed is now in its third year, reports Bank of Finland Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT). In the four-quarter period from April 2018 to March 2019, the employed population averaged just over 72mn, while number of unemployed averaged 3.6mn. After several years of increase, the employment rate fell slightly this year to 65.4%. The unemployment rate fell to 4.7%. The size of Russia’s total labour force, which includes both employed and unemployed workers, witnessed an unusually large decline this year. At
20 RUSSIA Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com