Vedomosti

The Malaysian Boeing crash in Ukraine – a predictable “black swan” regardless of which conflicting party downed the plane – can further worsen the international political crisis around Ukraine, yet it can also act as a spur to a way out.

There is a way to break the deadlock. Of course, a reasonable economic and fiscal policy is a must, as is the improvement of investment climate and measures to stimulate competition, economic growth, etc.

The crucial mistake is the lack of public and government attention to man as the principal subject and object of development.

For more than five years, we, together with some colleagues from the Russian expert community, have been actively advocating a turn of the Russian economy towards the Pacific.

I am sure that Brussels’ interest is purely political and psychological. The EU’s international influence has been damaged by the crisis and the mistakes of the 1990s, when Brussels set the unrealistic goal of creating a common foreign and defense policy. All this was to undermine the impact of great powers, while preventing the EU from expanding its international clout.

The now-on-now-off relations between Russia and the United States in recent years have resulted the termination of their “reset” policy with President Obama’s decision to cancel the planned face-to-face summit with President Putin, which was to be held during a G20 meeting in Russia.