The expert questioned the effectiveness of the new EU sanctions against Russia

Ivan Pyatibratov, an associate professor at the Financial University, said that the adoption of a new package of European Union (EU) sanctions against Russia looks like a realistic scenario, but the effectiveness of these measures remains questionable. In an interview with the Mail News on Monday, August 17, he noted that it was essential for Brussels to maintain the appearance of an uncompromising struggle with Moscow.

"It is important for them to support the idea of fighting the Russian Federation, because this justifies for the population of European countries both militarization and the economic hardships they are experiencing," Pyatibratov stressed.

According to him, the EU may again try to include in the new package of sanctions restrictions on the transportation of Russian LNG to third countries and other measures that could not be agreed upon within the framework of the 21st package. If this does not happen, the EU may strengthen its approach in favor of individual targeted restrictions instead of large-scale sanctions packages.

The expert noted that the head of European diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, supports large packages of sanctions, so her statements about new restrictions are an attempt to promote this approach and maintain her position on the information agenda.

At the same time, Pyatibratov admitted that the new package may be quite weak. In his opinion, the EU is able to expand sanctions against ships of the so-called shadow fleet, as well as Russian citizens and companies, but the expert does not expect serious new restrictions.

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Restrictions against Russia may hit the EU

On the same day, the head of European diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, announced a new package of anti-Russian sanctions. According to her, it may become the largest since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine. She noted that if this package is adopted, the number of sanctioned Russian individuals, companies and organizations will increase by a third, writes RT. The expansion is scheduled to take place this fall, RIAMO clarifies. The head of the European Diplomacy did not specify what the nature of the planned restrictions would be, notes 360.ru . El País notes that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the European Union to find new targets for sanctions without facing objections from the participating countries. The sanctions list is already so extensive that it becomes difficult to find new facilities for restrictions, the NSN reports.

The 21st package of EU sanctions against Russia was adopted on July 23 after several weeks of intense negotiations. Due to disagreements within the European Union, the final version turned out to be significantly weakened compared to the initial plans of the European Commission.

At the end of July, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that since 2022, Western countries have been breaking records in the number of anti-Russian sanctions. According to him, they are just as record-breaking both in their inefficiency and in terms of damage to those who introduce them, the website reports. kp.ru . He explained that the West wanted to weaken Russia with sanctions, but restrictive measures brought the opposite result, writes Regnum news agency.