Finance ministers of eight EU countries are convinced that Russia is lying about the strength of its economy, and that Western sanctions have actually hit its military machine. This is stated in their column for The Guardian.
Details
It is noted that there are in fact many signs that the Russian military economy is deteriorating. Sanctions and other measures to weaken the Russian economy are effective, but more can be done.
We must continue to increase pressure on the Putin regime and support Ukraine
EU ministers emphasize that Putin's regime constantly boasts of high economic growth rates, but they are driven by the military industry and state subsidies. This is a sign of an overheated economy, not a stable one.
It is noted that military factories are operating at maximum capacity, and the shortage of workers is so severe that there is information about the replacement of prison terms with forced labor.
Ministers point to other signs of problems in the economy:
- rising inflation, which cannot be brought down by high interest rates;
- halving the liquid assets of the National Welfare Fund;
- an embargo on fuel and sugar exports;
- strict control over the withdrawal of capital.
The authors also emphasize that Western sanctions are actually having an impact: they have "changed the geography of Russia's foreign trade and limited its access to priority goods for warfare.
In particular, the ministers call for more decisive steps to utilize Russia's frozen assets, strengthen sanctions "in strategically important sectors such as energy, finance and technology," and enhance the effectiveness and prevention of evasion of these restrictions.
In particular, it is necessary to strengthen control over compliance with the price ceiling for Russian crude oil, as it is still traded above the upper limit of $60 per barrel. It is also important to introduce mirror sanctions against Belarus and increase pressure on other major facilitators of sanctions circumvention in East Asia and the Middle East
The column was signed by the Ministers of Finance and Economy of Sweden (Elisabeth Svantesson), Denmark (Stefanie Loze), Estonia (Mart Virklaev), Finland (Rikka Purra, Latvia (Arvils Asheradens), Lithuania (Gintare Skeyste), the Netherlands (Elko Heinen) and Poland (Andrzej Domanski).
США не вводять нові санкції проти танкерів рф через страх росту цін на нафту - ЗМІ07.07.24, 19:27
Recall
The EU Council has extended economic sanctions against Russia for another 6 months, until January 31, 2025. The sanctions include a wide range of restrictive measures in various sectors, including trade, finance and transportation.