Each new extension of EU sanctions against Russia has had weaker effect - diplomat
BRUSSELS. Dec 22 (Interfax) - The Russian economy has gotten adapted to the EU sanctions, and each new round of their extension has had an increasingly weaker effect, Russian Permanent Representative to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said.
"What effect will all this have? I would say each subsequent extension has had an increasingly weaker economic effect, because our economy is getting adapted to them. As a matter of fact, we didn't expect anything from those folks at the current stage," Chizhov said in commenting on the entry into effect of the Council of the EU's decision on extending the sanctions against Russia until July 31, 2016.
"I'll tell you approximately that our trade turnover with the EU declined by about 30% in the first nine months of this year. Surely, you can speculate long as to what part of this decline should be attributed to the EU's restrictive measures and what to the oil price drop. I think the oil price drop has had a greater effect on our trade turnover, and not only with the EU countries," he said.
Chizhov refrained from commenting on discussions that were held within the EU on extending the anti-Russian sanctions. "I won't comment on the internal debates that, according to our information, took place in the European Union, including as regards for how long they need to be extended, and even attempts to present their extension by half a year as some compromise between those who wanted them to be extended by one year and those who wanted their termination already now," he added.
"We don't really care about discussions inside the EU. We make judgments based on deeds and results. And the result is that the damage caused to our bilateral relations with the EU remains in place and continues to have a detrimental effect," he said.
"Our reaction is calm. It's obvious that it'll take some time until some critical mass of those supporting the cancellation of the sanctions could accumulate in the EU," he said.