The European Union’s head of diplomacy believes that to stop war, you have to stay the course.
European sanctions for a year have limited Russia’s political and economic opportunities. In particular, they led to financial strain and cut the country off from major markets, increased the cost of trade and worsened the industrial potential of the Russian Federation. This was said in his blog by the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, on Saturday, August 26.
He emphasized that since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the EU has already introduced 11 packages of sanctions against Russia. In addition, the European Union imposed a travel ban and an asset freeze on more than 1,500 people and about 250 organizations from Russia.
Russia’s economy shrank by 2.1% last year. The production of cars decreased by 48% compared to the same period last year, other transport equipment – by 13%, the production of computers, electronics and optics – by 8%. Retail trade in Russia fell by 10%, and wholesale by 17%, he said.
Borrell noted that compared to 2021, 58% of the EU’s total imports from Russia had already stopped in 2022: imports of energy goods decreased by almost 60%, including iron, steel, precious metals and timber. For the first quarter of 2023, this figure is more than 75%, while imports of energy products have decreased by 80%.
Total EU goods exports are 52% below the annual average before the invasion in 2022. At the same time, exports of European dual-use goods and advanced technology that Russia needs to produce weapons for the war against Ukraine decreased by 78% in 2022 compared to 2019-2021.
Russia’s total oil revenue is down 27% from last year, according to International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates.
“To stop the war, we have to stay the course,” – said the European official.
It will be recalled that on June 23, the European Council approved 11 packages of economic and individual restrictive measures aimed at tightening existing EU sanctions against the Russian Federation and stopping their evasion.
Source: korrespondent
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