“At the moment Russia is continuing to deliver gas – even a little more,” Economics Minister Margarete Schramböck (ÖVP) told journalists on Tuesday. Russia may still be taking advantage of the simpler payment processes. But “we will also be able to buy gas afterwards,” assured the minister. Even if larger Russian banks are excluded from the global payment system Swift, “individual payments could very well be processed manually”.
It’s like handing in a payment slip at the bank instead of arranging a digital transfer, she compared. “Everything is possible at the moment so that the payments come,” Gazprom is keeping to the contracts. Gas is also not on the list of sanctions, so purchasing gas does not contradict the measures taken against Russia. In principle, Austria will strictly adhere to the sanctions – in particular the stop of technology deliveries.
For Christian Helmenstein, head of the Economica Institute, this technology stop is one of the sharpest weapons against Russia, although it has received little attention. Because the domestic airlines would mostly fly Western machines. If they cannot be serviced and there are no spare parts, they would have to be grounded within a few weeks. But that would massively disrupt the connections in the largest country in the world in terms of area.
Helmenstein estimates that the combined sanctions against Russia could reduce the country’s economic output by 10 to 20 percent, especially if they remain in place for longer. The country is already far from exhausting its potential. Russia’s economic output (GDP) is slightly lower than Italy’s in dollars. If Russia, with its approximately 145 million inhabitants per capita, had the same GDP as Italy, it would be the third largest economy in the world – the large country is only eleventh. Despite many raw materials and a well-educated population, Russia is still below its potential.
