The State Duma called Estonia's hopes to put pressure on Russia with sanctions naive

The idea that sanctions will help the European Union put pressure on Russia in the context of the Ukrainian issue is naive — Western politicians and officials should accept that restrictions do not work. Dmitry Novikov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told Izvestia on February 27.

Thus, the deputy commented on the statement by Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhkna, who said the day before that before possible Russian-American negotiations, Europe should increase sanctions pressure on Moscow in order to prevent its positions from strengthening. He also stressed that the frozen Russian assets are under the jurisdiction of the European Union (EU), so any decisions on unblocking them are the prerogative of Brussels, not Washington.

"As for the threat of sanctions pressure: it's time for the Europeans to be disappointed in them (Restrictions — Ed.). Everything they could have done in this direction has already been done, and the sanctions they were hoping for are not working. It would be very naive to believe that any new additional sanctioned inventions could put Russia in a desperate situation," Novikov said.

He also added that if Europe had found its voice in the international political arena, instead of duplicating positions USA, then the world would be one step closer to creating a multipolar just order. However, according to the politician, it would work if European politicians were guided by national interests.

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Earlier, on February 24, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the Russian assets frozen by the EU could not be confiscated, since this href="https://iz.ru/1844514/2025-02-24/makron-ukazal-na-nevozmozhnost-konfiskovat-zamorozhennye-aktivy-rf"> The initiative contradicts the laws of international law. In turn, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on February 4 that the EU was working on href="https://iz.ru/1833563/2025-02-04/v-ek-zaiavili-o-tvorcheskom-ispolzovanii-rossiiskikh-aktivov-dlia-pomoshchi-ukraine " target="_blank">the "most creative" use of Russian frozen assets to provide assistance Ukraine.

On December 25 last year, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Andrey Klimov called start checking and initiate civil and criminal cases after the transfer of $1 billion to Ukraine from assets of the Russian Federation. The senator is convinced that, despite the transfer by Western countries to Ukraine of only the percentages that have accumulated since the seizure of Russian assets, from the point of view of international law, this can be considered theft.