Even if there is a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, Western economic sanctions against Russia will remain in place for decades, a Russian foreign ministry official says.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, led to the imposition of heavy sanctions. Russia has overtaken Iran and North Korea to become the most sanctioned country by the West. Despite the pressure, the Russian economy grew by 4.7 per cent in the first half of this year.
Dmitry Birichevskyy, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Economic Cooperation Department, said: ‘This is a story for decades to come. Whatever the developments in Ukraine and the results of the peaceful settlement, in fact this is just a pretext. The sanctions were first introduced much earlier. Their ultimate goal is unfair competition.’
Russian President Vladimir Putin says that the lifting of all sanctions against Russia is one of his conditions for peace. Many Russian businessmen are not particularly happy about the sanctions but fear losing their fortunes if they confront Putin or senior military and intelligence officials during a war.
Billionaire Oleg Deripaska faced a hawkish backlash after making a rare anti-war statement, describing the conflict as ‘madness’ and calling for an unconditional ceasefire.
Birichevsky says the sanctions have had some benefits, forcing Russia to restructure its economy and produce more value-added goods previously imported from Western countries. He also notes that Moscow shares strategies with other sanctioned countries, such as Iran, North Korea and Venezuela, and aims to build an international ‘anti-sanctions’ coalition to jointly resist Western pressure.
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