Associate Professor at the University of Ghana's School of Law, Professor Appiagyei-Atua, has stated that the Western world's sanctions against Russia are likely to impact African countries.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, Prof Appiagyei-Atua noted that Russia and Ukraine are the leading wheat producers, adding that they “provide about 30% of the whole wheat production in the world.”

As a result, when these sanctions go into effect, they will affect Russia and have a significant impact in other Western countries.

He further stated that the sanction will go a long way to affect other African countries that rely on Western countries for aid and loans.

 “…indirectly companies and other organisations are been asked to sacrifice so that they will comply with the sanction directive so that it will bite Russia,” he said.

“Already we know the impact of the Covid pandemic on support and assistance on African countries, the problem has not come to an end, and these sanction issue has also come in. it means that if the US is earning less, it’s going to earn less because of the sanction.

“The impact is going to be felt highly on Ghana and other countries that depend on aid and other assistance from the US or the European countries, so that is also another thing that we need to look out for,” he added.

Mr Appiagyei-Atua said that Russia is a major oil producer of gas and oil; therefore, the sanction on Russia is likely also affect the cost of gas and petroleum on the international market.

Despite this, he stated that the sanction could benefit African countries if they take advantage of the opportunity.

According to him, the sanction on Russia “will allow for African countries that produce oil and gas to step and be able to earn more from that.”

He went on to say that “when the oil prices go up, the oil producers in Africa will also benefit from the windfall. I understand Ghana, for example, could earn about $ 3 billion.”

Background

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has launched an unprecedented attack on Ukraine. The move comes after Putin ordered troops into two pro-Russian, breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine on Monday.

There have been multiple reports of explosions, bombings, and Russian Military vehicles entering Ukraine from various parts of the border with Russia, with a growing number of casualties being counted on both sides.

These attacks on Ukraine by Russia has made Western Countries impose sanction on Russia.

The decision to directly target Russian President, Vladimir Putin, across Western allies is the most personal escalation of a broad effort to respond to Russia's actions through economic sanctions.

According to CNN reports, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French president Emmanuel Macron announced to inflict "maximum impact on the Russian economy and political elite."

The sanctions are aimed to hit Russia's financial, energy and transport sectors and include export controls and trade financing bans.

Also, Japan will impose a range of sanctions targeting Russian financial institutions, military organisations and individuals in response to the invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Friday.

The range of measures includes freezing the assets of specific Russian individuals and financial institutions while banning exports to Russian military organisations.

Australia's leader said Friday that it would "begin imposing further sanctions on oligarchs, whose economic weight is of strategic significance to Moscow and over 300 members of the Russian Duma, their parliament."

New Zealand is prohibiting the export of goods to the Russian military and security forces in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Taiwan also announced to join the economic sanctions against Russia, without specifying which measures were being considered. The United States and United Kingdom also have inclusive in the sanctions.