(Yearender-Series-Ukraine Crisis) Commentary: Double-edged sanctions against Russia hurt both sides

As U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law a bill aiming for tougher sanctions on Russia, the seesaw battle stalemated between Western countries and Russia over the Ukraine crisis is expected to continue.

While touching Russia on the raw, the boomerang is most likely to dart back to its throwers -- the United States and its European allies.

Since the crisis broke out in Ukraine, the West has adopted a three-step sanction strategy against Russia -- First, threatening with sanctions; second, imposing sanctions against individuals that "endanger the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine"; and third, directing sanctions at Russia's whole socioeconomic system and its energy,defense and finance sectors in particular.

Rounds of sanctions, like rolling rocks, have rained down on Russia, and severely wounded the country's economy.

On Dec. 16, the Russian ruble nosedived to an all-time low, hitting 80 rubles per U.S. dollar and 100 rubles per euro in Moscow trade.

The ruble has lost nearly 50 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar and euro since March despite several currency interventions of the Central Bank, indicating Russia's economy has fallen into trouble. The once stubborn Russian government has finally admitted the country would fall into recession in 2015.

Yet, the "giant rocks attack" has failed to press Russia to yield. President Vladimir Putin has made clear on various occasions that Russia will stick to its stand and never live with the sanctions.

Admitting Western sanctions seriously damaged Russia's economy, Putin told his 10th annual year-end press conference Thursday that the current situation can be used to offer additional conditions for production businesses, which would be a start to diversify the economy.

"External conditions would urge us to be more effective and shift to more innovative development ways," he noted.

Countering the Western sanctions, Putin has announced that Russia will ban or limit the imports of agricultural and food products from related countries, and even more on his Dec. 1 visit to Turkey, the Russian president played an "energy card", warning that the planned South Stream Offshore Pipeline project, which will supply gas to Europe through Turkey, would be canceled.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has recently also said that it is wrong to believe that the U.S. sanctions will be temporary, and that Russia does not recognize the legality of the sanctions and will not hold any negotiations to lift the sanctions.

The senior diplomat said Washington's ambition to impose its will on the world, using such ways as sanctions, is to meet "radical reactions" from Russia.

Moreover, the "rocks of sanctions", which look ferocious, heavy and hard, could easily drop on their own toes when the hurlers aim them at others.

According to the European Commission statistics, if Russia takes counter-sanction actions, EU will lose nearly 40 billion euros (49 billion U.S. dollars) this year, and 50 billion euros (62 billion dollars) next year.

For the United States, its "rocks of sanctions" thrown on Russia inevitably will lead to its strategic losses.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said that the U.S. and Russia shoulder common responsibility in combating extremist forces in the Middle East and in solving Iran's nuclear issues. However, the current circumstances will undoubtedly weaken the joint international endeavor in coping with global challenges.

On the other hand, Europe has not act as much as the United States in placing sanctions on Russia.

The EU "careless leniencies" over sanctions, French President Francois Hollande's "unscheduled visit" to Russia, among others, have all reflected the EU members' dilemma -- sanctions are a must, but could not be excessive.

Poland's East Europe expert Vislav Chaban said that geopolitically, Russia is the EU's "inescapable neighbor" and their interests are closely intertwined. After all, the 40 billion dollars worth of annual U.S.-Russia trade is greatly dwarfed by some 460 billion dollars worth of trade between the EU and Russia.

The gas-rich United States could hardly understand the "bitterness" of its energy-strapped European allies. Thus, Western countries, even those within the EU, make their own "calculations" on whether and how the sanctions on Russia will remain.

With torrential undercurrents sweeping the "anti-Russia front", the "war of sanctions", if remaining "hot", will inevitably intensify discord within the "front", and hence undermine the U.S.'s core diplomatic relations.

The decision announced Wednesday by Obama to restore ties with Cuba may well serve as a morning call for Washington and its allies that punitive measures could only be, as Obama has put it in reference to the Cuba embargo, "an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests."

On the Ukraine issue, if Western countries blindly follow the new conservatism and are addicted to their sanctions on Russia, the European economy and the West-Russia ties will pay a high price, and the sanction advocates themselves also will have to swallow the bitter pill of Russia's countermeasures. Endi