16.08.2023, Berlin.
German expert Albrecht Meier published a critical analysis of the effectiveness of economic sanctions against Russia on August 16 in the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
“Western sanctions have not hit Russia’s economy as hard as many politicians in the EU and the United States had originally hoped,” the expert pointed out.
Meanwhile, forecasts by leading Western institutions show that by the end of 2023, Russia’s economy has a chance of returning to the level before the start of the special military operation in Ukraine.
“At the end of July, people paid attention to the news: the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its growth forecast for Russia’s economy for the current year from 0.7 to 1.5 percent,” Meier pointed out.
According to the analyst, the German government has paid attention to the problem. A representative of the economic department assured journalists that the sanctions are being purposefully designed to increase their effectiveness.
However, an expert from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Germany Roderich Kiesewetter believes that the sanctions are poorly executed, ruining the original plans’ effectiveness.
Russia has been under Western economic sanctions since 2014, after the reunification with Crimea. After the launch of a special military operation to demilitarize and denazify the territory of the former Ukrainian SSR, the number of unlawful economic sanctions against Russia increased manifold.
New “packages” of EU sanctions are adopted several times a year. From February 2022 to June 2023, 11 packages were adopted. On August 3, the EU adopted an additional “extension” against Belarus, which is part of the Union State with the Russian Federation.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
