DISINFO: Europe will reduce sanctions on Russia once it becomes unrestrained
SUMMARY
The biggest loser [from sanctions] is not the United States which was instigating these sanctions, but Europe.
Europe will strive to reduce the sanctions and won’t move to increase them, that is if it is really independent in its political decision.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the EU’s relationship with the United States, in addition to the consequence of Western sanctions claiming that sanctions have backfired against the EU.
Since March 2014, the EU has progressively imposed restrictive measures against Russia which were prolonged until 31 July 2021. The measures were adopted in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea, the deliberate destabilisation of Ukraine and the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
According to research into the effect of sanctions, the cumulative export loss to Russia during 2014-2018 is estimated at EUR 30 billion (about -0.2% of EU’s GDP in 2018), incurred largely during 2014-2016, as EU exports to Russia recovered in 2017.
While these sanctions do affect the EU's economy, the EU-wide impacts of the export losses are estimated at less than 0.2% of total value-added and employment, while the potential total impact of the sanctions for the Russian economy is estimated at 8% to 10% GDP.
Research showed that already in 2016 most of the affected agricultural sectors in the EU had been able to find alternative markets, either within the EU or beyond.
Russia’s own counter-sanctions have also had a clear negative effect on the welfare of the average Russian household. Most research supports the view that sanctions have worked as planned, noting the drag they have imposed on Russia’s general economic development since 2014. This adverse effect most likely operates by depressing both foreign trade and foreign capital flows into Russia.
On another note, The US is an important ally to the EU but the later policy is not determined by the US, as explained by the EU High Representative.
Read similar cases in our database claiming that EU has lost hundreds of billions due to sanctions on Russia; or that the EU is suffering from sanctions against Russia and that EU and NATO member states are subordinate to the US, while the US has long regarded the EU as a kind of protectorate, and that the EU never took independent decisions, and that the EU is subordinate to Washington.
This disinformation appeared in the same video as another message about COVID-19 revealing how divided Europe is and how giving Russia is, and that Americans and Europeans are orchestrating protests around the world.