Sechin called the sanctions pressure the new norm of the global economy

Trade barriers have ceased to be an exceptional measure, and sanctions pressure has become the norm. This was stated by Igor Sechin, Executive Secretary of the Commission under the President of the Russian Federation for the development Strategy of the fuel and energy complex and environmental Safety, head of Rosneft, at the Energy Panel of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Speaking with the report "The beginning of the end or the end of the beginning: what remains at the bottom of Pandora's box," Sechin said that, according to experts, by October 2025, the volume of global commodity imports subject to various restrictions had reached almost $3 trillion.

"In 12 months— the growth has more than quadrupled. I am sure that this figure is even higher today," he said.

According to Sechin, 32,000 sanctions have been imposed against Russia over the past year. "The leadership belongs to the United States: this country has introduced more than 7,400 restrictions, followed by Canada, Switzerland, the European Union, Norway, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, and Japan. There are more than 50 countries in total," he said.

Sechin also said that sanctions are used as a tool of coercion and gaining competitive advantages. "Thus, Russian foreign exchange reserves worth more than $300 billion were actually confiscated and are now being used to finance military operations against us," he stressed.

The head of Rosneft also recalled the theses voiced by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Munich Security Conference in 2007 regarding the imposition of the US national legal system on other countries.

In addition, he compared the creation of the global energy system by previous generations to Prometheus' gift to people. "But the sacrifices made by Prometheus may be in vain. As we said earlier, not everyone will be accepted into the bright future of global energy," Sechin concluded.