Sanctions after sanctions were imposed on Russia after the Ukraine war by the Western powers. The aim was to crash the Russian economy. Analysts had predicted that the Russian economy won’t be able to face the brunt of war and will collapse within six months.
Cut to now, the anti-Russian stance that the European countries had adopted is vanishing in thin air. They are now cozying up to Russia as whatever they had intended has failed terribly. In response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and then its annexation of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia in 2022, the EU has only and only placed sanctions on Russia. The European Union has sanctioned everything Russian, including Russian banks, businesses, energy sources like coal and oil, investments, public finance, and materials like iron, steel, and timber.
The sanctions were intended to undermine Russia’s economic foundation, deprive it of essential markets and technologies, and dramatically reduce its capacity to wage war. Western analysts predicted that the economy of Russia would tumble down in the heat of economic and financial sanctions. However, everything failed and the same sanctions have come to bite them back. The dissociation of energy markets away from Russia has made European pay through the nose.
Sanctions aren’t working. Russia has always found ways to get around with them. Not once but several instances have been recorded of European countries defying the sanctions covertly and overtly. These countries include France and Germany themselves. The high price of gas and oil has made it easier for Russia to finance the conflict. According to Argus Media’s senior economist, David Fyfe, sales of crude oil increased 41% last year. According to him, 40% of Russia’s overall exports are made up of oil sales, which significantly contribute to the war’s funding.
The sanctions only weakened the global economy and helped Moscow in its war efforts. As a result, many countries have opposed the sanctions. Hungary and Poland are two countries which have vehemently opposed the sanctions from the very beginning. Moreover, Switzerland and Greece have also denied imposing any major sanctions on Russia.
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Two weeks back we saw a significant change in reference to the sanctions imposed on Moscow. The Netherlands went against European Union and overtly removed sanctions against Russia. And now the European Union is backtracking on its sanctions against Russia.
European Union removes sanctions
The European Union has now postponed its plans to unveil the ninth package of sanctions against Russia. The new round of sanctions were to be placed in November but the EU has no plans to do it as of now. When questioned about the reasons for the delay in the introduction of new sanctions against Russia, the official said, “There is already some sort of sanction fatigue between the member states, and also there is not much left to sanction, when it comes to sanctions against Russia, as most of the tools have been used in this field.”
Additionally, the bloc’s decision to postpone sanctions has both symbolic and direct implications. It’s the first step by European Union to value its sovereignty more and refuse to walk on the path shown by the USA. The sanctions have benefited US the most, as the US had increased its export to Europe dramatically. From LNG to oil, the US has been selling everything to Europe at sky-high prices.
Read our Premium piece: Data shows US has earned $200 billion so far due to the Russia-Ukraine war
The changed stance by European Union is a major setback to Biden’s efforts to unite Europe against Russia and fill American coffers. Europe needs an independent foreign policy and this is just the beginning. Also, as the winter approaches, the heat of sanctioning Russia is only going to increase among European countries. The sanctions have been postponed for now, but it looks like, the imposed sanctions will also be waived soon enough.
The cracks between the US and the EU are only going to widen from here. So, let’s brace ourselves for the meltdown of grandpa Biden who’ll certainly not be pleased with this brave move from Europe.
