Foreign Minister Lavrov: The West lost billions of dollars by "teaching Russia a lesson"

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (Photo: RT).

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on November 8 that European Union (EU) businesses have lost at least 250 billion euros ($266.6 billion) due to the sweeping sanctions imposed on Moscow.

Russia's top diplomat said these were "very conservative estimates" of the damage the West had inflicted on its own businesses over the past year and a half by introducing unilateral sanctions.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry , Russia-EU trade turnover reached a total of $200 billion in 2022 and is expected to fall below $100 billion by the end of 2023.

The latest estimates from the Russian Foreign Ministry show that bilateral trade between Russia and EU member states, which totaled $417 billion in 2013, could reach $700 billion this year without sanctions.

Speaking at a meeting with heads of diplomatic missions in Moscow, Lavrov said that while the EU showed no signs of reversing its policy, Russia was creating independent trade mechanisms.

"We understand very well that the sanctions against us will not disappear in the near future, or even in the long term. We do not need this, not because we choose the path of isolation or autarky. The West decided to destroy the world economy to teach Russia a lesson," he said.

Mr Lavrov stressed that Russia would “fully rely” on itself in strategic areas. According to Mr Lavrov, Russia is building new transport corridors and supply chains that will be “out of the reach of malign influences” from the West.

Many economists around the world have repeatedly stressed that Western sanctions have failed to achieve their stated goal of destabilizing Russia and its economy. According to the Russian Finance Ministry, the Russian economy initially suffered a recession due to sanctions last year, but has now largely recovered after a shift in trade to the East.

The EU has so far imposed 11 sets of sanctions against Russia over its military campaign in Ukraine. The number of restrictive measures against Russia has reached tens of thousands, although officials in the EU and the US have repeatedly admitted that the negative impact of sanctions on Russia has not been as significant as expected.

On the same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that the US would face serious consequences if it seized frozen Russian assets and brought them to Ukraine.

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee on November 7 approved a bill called the “Repo for Ukraine Act,” which would allow the president to seize frozen Russian assets within US jurisdiction, except diplomatic property. The secretary of state would then be able to use the money to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts and humanitarian aid.

The bill, approved by 40 members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, envisions asset seizure as a means of enforcing Moscow's obligation to compensate Ukraine for damages suffered as a result of its conflict with Russia.

Mr Peskov described any such move as “illegal” and “contrary to all existing norms”. The Kremlin spokesman said that Russia’s retaliation “would probably not be tit-for-tat, but would serve Russia’s interests in the best way”.

The US and its allies have frozen about $300bn worth of Russian assets as part of sanctions against Moscow, with many calling for the money to be seized and donated to Kiev, although some Western officials have warned that the move would be illegal.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/ngoai-truong-lavrov-phuong-tay-mat-hang-ty-usd-khi-day-nga-mot-bai-hoc-20231108202921153.htm