UPDATE: Gref: Western sanctions not very sensitive for Russian economy yet

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MOSCOW, Aug 31 (PRIME) -- Western sanctions are not very sensitive for the Russian economy in the short-term, but the country will feel them later, national top lender Sberbank CEO German Gref told Rossiya 24 television channel on Friday.

“The scale of sanctions is now such that we do not particularly feel them in the short-term, but in the medium and long-term they will affect both our and global economy. The volume of sanctions that is beginning to work today does not concern only the Russian economy, it’s the U.S.–China, the U.S.–Turkey, Iran, North Korea, etc. If we put it together into a common and whole, I’m afraid that the world economy will feel all this,” he said.

On Monday, U.S. anti-Russian sanctions over Moscow’s alleged involvement in the March poisoning of the Skripal family in the U.K. came into force. The second package of sanctions that can affect lending to Russian corporate bodies could be introduced in November.

Gref also said he hopes that the U.S. will revise its sanctions decisions against Russia after November elections to the Congress.

“In my opinion, any political situation should end with the fact that people should stop and analyze what has already been done. A lot of negative things have been done. I hope a lot that after November elections in the U.S. some revision of what has been done will be made and the speed of development of this sanctions flywheel will be hampered,” he said.

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