The State Duma responded to France's call to impose the heaviest sanctions

The introduction of new, "most severe" sanctions against Moscow, which France is calling on the members of the European Union (EU), will not affect the Russian economy. This was stated by State Duma deputy Alexei Chepa on Monday, April 14.

"They have been imposing the "heaviest" sanctions for three years now and say that after that the Russian economy will definitely collapse. But we are solving all the issues. Despite the difficulties, our economy is only getting stronger," the politician said in a conversation with Lenta.Ru .

Chepa noted that while the world is approaching a serious crisis of tariffs and duties, it is the Russian economy that shows itself to be the most viable, despite all external restrictions and pressure. The parliamentarian wished that after these "most severe" sanctions, the French economy would not collapse completely.

"Because, after all, French citizens should not suffer from the mistakes and stupidity of their leaders. We will not wish anything bad to the people of this country," the politician concluded.

"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

Earlier in the day, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrault said that the European Union needs to impose "the heaviest sanctions" against Russia, RT reports.

Barro said that the United States may also impose sanctions to encourage the Russian side to negotiate, IA Regnum reports.

On April 1, Maxim Chirkov, Associate professor of the Department of Economic Policy and Economic Measurements at GUU, told Izvestia that the introduction of new EU sanctions against Russia makes no sense and causes more harm to European countries themselves. According to the expert, despite the negative consequences, six EU countries are ready to tighten restrictions.

Prior to that, 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.