EU has lost $1.5 trillion over Russia sanctions – Moscow

EU member states have lost around $1.5 trillion due to the sweeping sanctions introduced against Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko said on Friday.

The diplomat added that he sees no sign of the bloc reversing its policies toward Moscow in the near future.

“The entire losses the EU sustained due to the imposition of sanctions and the decisions to curtail cooperation with Russia have totaled, at a conservative estimate, some $1.5 trillion,” Grushko told journalists on the sidelines of the Verona Eurasian Economic Forum in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

He noted that mutual trade between Russia and EU member states had amounted to $417 billion in 2013, and claimed it could have reached $700 billion this year were it not for Ukraine-related sanctions.

Grushko added that the trade volume had totaled $200 billion in 2022, but is expected to drop to less than $100 billion by the end of 2023.

“Next year, it will further decline to $50 billion, and will be on the way to zero thereafter,” he concluded.

Germany’s industrial sector now has to purchase natural gas at prices three times higher than it costs in the US, according to the diplomat. He stressed that production lines are gradually relocating to North America despite red flags being raised by German businesses.

So far, Brussels has introduced 11 sanctions packages against Russia over its military operation in Ukraine. The number of restrictions has reached tens of thousands, although officials in the EU and the US have repeatedly admitted that the negative impact of the measures on Russia has not been as significant as expected.

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