Russian Meat Importer To Europe: ‘Winter Is Coming’

The ordinary Russians are furious that their government has imposed bans on Western food imports.

Not everyone is so glum.

The FT’s Courtney Weaver and Kathrin Hille talked to the CEO of one Russian meat importing firm who said she relished the opportunity for her country hit back at the West, even though her company was going to get hit.
“If someone is beating you like a piñata, are you just going to be quiet?…The ban on imports is only the beginning. Winter is coming. We’ll see who is the last one laughing then. Let Europe pay.”
Not all of Europe is going to pay equally, however.
Bloomberg’s Mark Whitehouse published a chart Friday showing that the meat exec may be disappointed if she thinks will have much reach beyond economies near Russia. Here are the countries ranked by targeted goods as a share of GDP.

As the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, Russian sanctions now target goods worth $8.7 billion, an insignificant amount on the scale of the E.U.’s $18 trillion and America’s $16 trillion economy.

“…If Putin wants to hurt the likes of the U.S. and Germany, he’s missing his target,” Whitehouse writes. “If he wants to reprimand his eastern European neighbors for joining the West, he has chosen a more appropriate weapon.”