DISINFO: Anti-Russian sanctions will kill EU’s economic sovereignty
SUMMARY
The European Union again made a mistake in predicting the effectiveness of sanctions as it introduced the tenth package of anti-Russian restrictions. Restrictions on trade with Russia will only increase the EU's dependence on its competitors and "kill" its economic sovereignty.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets alleging that anti-Russian sanctions are damaging for Western countries in the first place, while failing to affect the Russian economy. This claim was made in the context of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
Since Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Council has adopted ten packages of sanctions against Russia and Belarus. The sanctions aim at weakening Russia’s ability to finance the war and specifically target the political, military and economic elite responsible for the invasion. Economic indicators are showing that the restrictive measures taken in Europe and elsewhere against Russia have had an impact on the Russian economy.
According to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 2022 was a bad year for the Russian economy. It is estimated that in 2022, Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) dropped by at least 2.2% in the best-case scenario and by up to 3.9% in the worst-case scenario.
Russia's unjustified and unprovoked war against Ukraine has highly impacted energy and food markets. EU countries are closely coordinating actions to tackle rising prices and scarcity of supplies. See here how the EU is working to tackle high energy prices and ensure security of supply, and address the global food crisis.
See other examples of disinformation about EU sanctions: The EU decision on Russia today is a step towards self-destruction, Western economies are collapsing, Russia’s economic successes surprise investors and Anti-Russian sanctions broke EU economy.
Among international economists there is a critical discussion about the reliability of Russian economic data, hiding a worse-than-reported reality of the Russian economy. See here.