The economist called the introduction of new EU sanctions against Russia meaningless

The introduction of new European Union sanctions against Russia makes no sense and causes more harm to the European countries themselves. Maxim Chirkov, Associate Professor of the Department of Economic Policy and Economic Measurements at GUU, told Izvestia on April 1.

Earlier, on March 31, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland and France expressed their readiness to impose new sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. This is stated in a joint statement by the foreign ministers of the six countries and the head of EU diplomacy Kai Kallas following the meeting in Madrid.

"From my point of view, the continuation of the sanctions policy on the part of the West is a meaningless story. The main victims were Western countries themselves, especially European ones," the expert said.

According to the expert, despite the negative consequences, six EU countries are ready to tighten restrictions.

"This is the result of a lack of feedback in European civil society. Democratic processes in Europe are deteriorating, which allows some politicians to pursue suicidal policies for their countries," the economist stressed.

According to him, European citizens do not support the intensification of confrontation.

"More and more people advocate reducing tensions, but individual politicians continue to play for aggravation. In the end, it will end badly for them," Chirkov summed up.

"Russian business has learned how to work under sanctions"

Vladimir Putin spoke at the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. Main quotes

On March 27, the head of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, said that the summit of EU leaders in Paris confirmed the immutability of the sanctions policy towards Russia. She also added that the EU member states are going to increase financial and military support for Kiev in the near future.

French President Emmanuel Macron said at a press conference following the summit of the Coalition of the Willing on March 27 that the participating countries had unanimously decided that the time had not yet come to lift sanctions against Russia. He stressed that such a policy would not work until peace could be established in Ukraine.