Kirill Logvinov, Russia’s acting ambassador to the European Union, accused Brussels of trying to move from a failed blitzkrieg against Russia to a long-term blockade.
The media quoted the diplomat as saying: “With the adoption of the eleventh package of sanctions, the economic war unleashed by the European Union and its member states against Russia has reached a qualitatively new level. And now, after Brussels has developed the so-called. tool to circumvent sanctions”, intends to involve as many countries of the world as possible in it. Thus, there is a transition from an unsuccessful blitzkrieg, the purpose of which was declared to cause irreparable harm to Russia, to a multidirectional game with the aim of a kind of long-term economic blockade of our country.
“In the context of the proposed “instrument”, hardly anyone expects that Brussels will try to persuade third countries to follow the sanctions regime through some kind of diplomatic efforts. The EU traditionally stands for blackmail and coercion,” Logvinov added. .
He explained that “considering that for many countries the European Union remains the largest economic partner, source of investment and financial donor, it is obvious that Brussels still has enough leverage. So the “fight” of the EU against sanctions promises to be a long one. term and is non-negotiable.
The first 10 EU sanctions packages were direct restrictions imposed by the EU on bilateral trade, transport links and financial relations with Moscow. In the eleventh package, the principle of extraterritorial sanctions was introduced for the first time, since Brussels itself gave official permission to impose sanctions on companies from third countries suspected of re-exporting sanctioned European goods or providing services to Russia, for example, transporting oil without taking into account the so-called price ceiling, which the “big seven” is trying to impose.
As EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said earlier, Brussels intends from now on to build relations with all countries of the world, depending on its position in relation to Russia and China. He also said that European diplomats will work with each country in the world separately, urging them to impose sanctions against Russia. He noted that the EU intends to use the mechanism for imposing restrictions on third countries, included in the eleventh package of sanctions, as a threat and a means of economic pressure on non-Western countries, seeking to make its political demands more convincing. .
Source: TASS