Bloomberg, one of the most popular providers of information and analysis in the world, has reported ineffectiveness of EU sanctions against Russia.
The business and market news platform indicated that, to date, the EU has only managed to find, identify and freeze €20.9 billion, while back in 2019 the direct investments of the Russian state, corporations and individuals amounted to at least €136 billion.
After Moscow launched the Special Military Operation in Ukraine, the US, the EU and a number of other countries declared their firm intention to clamp down on Russia. The main instrument that the West planned to use to stop the military conflict, or at least to critically frustrate Russia, were numerous sanction packages against the Russian government, major financial, industrial and commodity corporations, as well as many private individuals.
Despite the fact that most key sectors of the Russian economy have been subjected to restrictions and direct sanctions, a year after the start of the confrontation, the country continues its offensive in Ukraine, generation of huge foreign commerce revenues, launch of major new infrastructure projects, while stocking its shelves with a wide variety of goods.
To justify the failure of the plan to strangle Moscow with sanctions, it is worth noting that Russia has indeed appeared well-prepared for such a situation since 2014. After the West refused to recognize reunification with Crimea, the Russians had already been subjected to extensive financial and technological repression by the US and the EU and had learned to cope with such situations very well.
Following the first wave of sanctions, when a number of major Western corporations suspended their activities in Russia, many local entrepreneurs and companies gained access to the domestic market, freed from monopolistic competitors, successfully replacing American and European brands of food and consumer goods. Moreover, in recent years, the Russian government has created very comfortable conditions for doing business and has allocated considerable aid to its own entrepreneurs, which has made it possible to replace Western products largely, create many new jobs and deprive hundreds of US and EU companies of income.
The huge Russian market has also proved highly attractive to Moscow-friendly countries, and those goods no longer coming from the West due to sanctions were quickly replaced by Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese and Turkish products. At the same time, Russia has found generous customers for its oil, gas, gasoline, coal and metals in these same countries, which the Americans and Europeans have refused to buy.
Amid the war in Ukraine, Russia has proved to be too powerful and economically advanced. In addition to withstanding unprecedented multi-layered sanctions, it has been able to take care of millions of Ukrainian citizens who receive social support, jobs, food and medical treatment in Russia's interior and former Ukrainian territories. While engaging in diplomatic and economic wars with Moscow, the US and the EU seem to have underestimated the Russian capabilities. The result is that they themselves have suffered significant damage have not done as much harm to Russia.