Borrell: Claim that Russian economy would not really suffer from Western sanctions doesn’t stand up to scrutiny

“Russian authorities regularly claim that the Russian economy would not really suffer from Western sanctions and that time would be on Russia's side in its war of aggression against Ukraine. However, these ideas do not stand up to scrutiny,” the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said in a blog post titled “No, time is not on Russia‘s side," Report informs.

According to him, the sanctions have already significantly weakened the Russian economy:

“And the future of the country becomes bleaker each day as Russia continues its war of aggression against Ukraine. Facing Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the European Union has so far unanimously agreed on 13 sanctions packages—the biggest sanction effort it has ever made. These sanctions have also been closely coordinated with many like-minded partners. However, we have often heard in recent months that these unprecedented sanctions may not be working. Those voices were particularly loud following the announcement by Russian authorities of a 3.6% GDP growth in 2023.”

“In an autocracy like Russia, where freedom of information and checks and balances do not exist, one must always exercise great caution with official figures. Economic ones are as suspect as the voting results of the last presidential election. Second, it was unlikely from the outset that the Russian economy would collapse after the invasion of Ukraine. Over the past two years, we have consistently stressed that the effect of our sanctions would not be immediate and that their aim was to weaken Russia's ability to support its war effort in the medium term. And that is, in fact, what is beginning to happen,” Borrell said.