International
-DW News
Moscow,
July
31:
The
European
Union
has
adopted
six
packages
of
sanctions
against
Russia
since
the
invasion
of
Ukraine
at
the
end
of
February.
Economic
exchange
between
Russia
and
the
European
Union
has
almost
completely
halted,
with
the
exceptions
of
gas
and
oil,
which
continue
to
be
piped
into
the
EU,
and
food,
crops
and
certain
fertilizers,
which
are
not
covered
by
the
sanctions.
According
to
the
Council
of
the
European
Union,
which
represents
the
27
member
states,
sanctions
now
apply
to
1,212
individuals
—
including
Russian
President
Vladimir
Putin,
Foreign
Minister
Sergey
Lavorv,
several
top
oligarchs
and
108
entities.
Half
of
the
Central
Bank
of
Russia’s
reserves
have
been
frozen,
and
Russian
banks
have
been
cut
off
from
the
SWIFT
international
payment
system.
Exports
of
EU
technology,
aeronautical
engineering,
electronics
and
luxury
goods
are
banned.
More
than
1,000
Western
companies
have
pulled
out
of
Russia.
The
US,
Canada,
Japan,
Switzerland
and
the
UK
have
also
imposed
sanctions
on
Russia.
In
its
live
tracker
of
the
sanctions,
the
German
nonprofit
investigative
newsroom
Correctiv
found
that,
as
of
July
30,
6,891
measures
had
been
imposed
since
February.
There
have
never
been
so
many
sanctions
against
a
single
country.
Russia
hit
‘hard’
On
Friday,
Josep
Borrell,
the
EU’s
foreign
policy
chief,
told
DW
that
sanctions
are
hitting
Russia
“hard.”
“The
Russian
economy
is
decreasing
by
10%,”
Borrell
said.
“They
will
suffer
the
biggest
recession
since
the
World
War
or
the
end
of
the
Soviet
Union.”
He
acknowledged
that
the
European
Union
remains
dependent
on
energy
supplies
from
Russia,
but
said
that
would
change
in
the
coming
months.
EU
member
states
are
still
buying
gas
from
Russia,
he
said,
“but
we
have
reduced
to
half
the
amount
of
imports
—
we
cannot
do
miracles.”
He
said
the
Kremlin
could
no
longer
use
the
income
to
shop
in
the
European
Union,
meaning
that
EU
technology
for
Russian
tanks
was
now
off
limits.
“They
have
the
money,”
he
said,
“but
they
cannot
buy
anything.”
Several
studies
by
renowned
universities
and
economic
research
institutes
on
the
possible
impact
of
the
sanctions
on
Russia
—
and
on
the
countries
that
have
imposed
them
—
are
now
available.
They
all
project
a
drastic
decline
in
Russia’s
economic
output
in
2022.
The
International
Monetary
Fund,
for
example,
estimates
a
15%
drop.
The
economic
researcher
Maria
Shagina,
from
the
London-based
International
Institute
for
Strategic
Studies,
projects
a
drop
of
6%.
“Russia
continues
selling
oil
and
gas
at
record
high
prices,
and
it
accumulated
this
war
chest,
this
fortress
Russia,
that
it
used
to
have
before
the
war,”
Shagina
told
DW.
“So
we
have
this
unique
situation
where
on
the
surface
Russia
is
not
very
affected
by
sanctions.
But,
if
we
look
at
the
microeconomic
level,
and
in
particular
at
the
automotive
industry
and
the
aviation
sector,
the
sales
in
those
sectors
have
dropped
by
more
than
80-90%.
In
the
long
term,
we’re
talking
about
Russia’s
structural
transformation
because
it
can
no
longer
accrue
this
Western
capital
and
access
Western
technology,
and
it
will
go
through
a
reverse
industrialization.
How
quick
can
Russia
solve
it
and
come
up
with
a
new
economic
model
or
team
up
with
China,
India?
Who
can
provide
this
is
a
big
question
mark.”
Russia
‘suffering
massively’
Julian
Hinz,
from
the
Kiel
Institute
for
the
World
Economy,
said
trade
statistics
showed
that
the
sanctions
have
worked.
“The
Russian
economy
is
suffering
massively
under
these
sanctions
—
way
more
than
the
European
economies
are,”
he
said.
“There’s
really
just
no
comparison.”
Hinz
said
it
would
be
difficult
for
Russia
to
produce
domestic
alternatives
to
imported
goods
because
the
national
industry
needed
preliminary
products
and
technical
know-how
from
abroad.
He
said
the
Kremlin
would
struggle
to
find
buyers
for
the
oil
and
gas
no
that
are
longer
going
to
the
EU
and
the
US.
“The
pipelines
are
not
there,”
Hinz
said.
“There’s
some
pipeline
capacity
going
to
China,
but
that
is
just
roughly
about
10%
of
what
could
be
sent
to
Europe
at
the
same
time.
None
of
that,
in
terms
of
capacity,
is
able
to
replace
the
pipeline
capacity
going
to
Europe.”
Borrell
said
Russia
would
end
up
isolated.
“A
modern
economy
cannot
work
if
the
link
with
the
rest
[of
the]
economic
powers,
technological
powers
is
cut.
This
will
damage
the
Russian
economy
a
lot
—
not
tomorrow:
The
war
will
continue,
unhappily
continue.
But
the
economy
will
suffer
a
lot.”
“Putin
has
to
choose
if
he
wants
to
have
guns
or
wants
to
have
butter
for
his
people,”
Borrell
said.
“I
know
he
does
not
care
much
about
his
people.”
The
crucial
question,
then,
is
whether
the
economic
sanctions
will
eventually
help
to
change
the
political
will
of
the
authoritarian
regime
in
Moscow.
Alexander
Libman,
a
professor
of
Russian
and
East
European
politics
at
the
Free
University
of
Berlin,
is
skeptical.
He
recently
told
the
German
public
broadcaster
Deutschlandfunk
that
Vladimir
Putin
is
not
impressed
by
damage
to
the
Russian
economy.
“Sanctions
will
not
change
anything
within
weeks
or
months,”
Libman
said.
“One
must
be
honest:
Sanctions
are
an
instrument
—
there
is
quite
a
lot
of
research
on
this
—
that
generally
does
not
work.
In
most
cases,
sanctions
have
not
influenced
the
behavior
of
the
sanctioned
states.”
Source: DW