As majority of the Slovak dailies inform today, after the Tuesday's agreement of EU member countries on the third phase of sanctions against Russia, these will be the harshest business sanction since the Cold War.
The EU member states preliminary agreed to stop new contracts with Russia on the delivery of arms and products, which can be used not only by civilians but also by the army. Russian state-controlled banks will be denied access to cheap loans in the Union. The Slovak industry and the army, dependent on supplies of spare parts from Russia, will probably feel the impact of the expected retaliatory measures. Due to the sanctions, several Slovak engineering companies will lose business directly in Russia but also some orders, for instance, at German companies that supply Russia with equipment used by the army. On the other hand the Slovak central bank stated on Wednesday, that no bank active in Slovakia will be affected by the latest round of EU's economic sanctions against Russia. “The sanctions will only concern large state-run Russian banks. This doesn't apply to their subsidiaries active in the EU," stated the central bank.
