Moscow — The Kremlin said on Monday that no sanctions would ever force Russia to change course in the Ukraine war, hours after the US and the EU indicated they were considering additional economic restrictions.
The West has imposed tens of thousands of sanctions on Russia over its 3½-year war in Ukraine and its 2014 annexation of Crimea in a bid to hobble Russia’s $2.2-trillion economy and undermine support for President Vladimir Putin.
Putin said the Russian economy, which has grown faster than those of Group of Seven (G7) countries and defied Western predictions of a crash, not least thanks to spending on the war effort, has endured well. He has ordered businesses and officials to defy the sanctions in every way they can.
“No sanctions will be able to force the Russian Federation to change the consistent position that our president has repeatedly spoken about,” Peskov told Kremlin reporter Alexander Yunashev.
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was ready to move to a second phase of sanctioning Russia, the closest he has come to suggesting he will tighten sanctions against Moscow or those who buy its oil.
EU Council president Antonio Costa said new EU sanctions were being closely co-ordinated with the US
Russia controls one fifth of Ukraine and launched its largest air attack of the war over the weekend, setting the main government building in Kyiv on fire and killing at least four people, Ukrainian officials said.
Moscow said it had used aircraft, drones, missiles and artillery to strike armaments factories, airfields, arsenals and transport infrastructure used by the army.
On Friday, Trump said he would get the war settled “or there'll be hell to pay” and on Sunday, when asked by a reporter at the White House if he was ready to move to “the second phase” of sanctions against Russia, Trump responded: “Yeah, I am.”
He did not elaborate, but oil prices climbed more than $1 on Monday.
‘Diplomatic methods’
Peskov, who also serves as a Kremlin deputy chief of staff, said Western sanctions had “turned out to be absolutely useless in terms of exerting pressure on Russia”.
He said Moscow preferred to achieve its goals through political and diplomatic methods but, as Europe and Kyiv did not want to engage, it would press on with what Putin calls the “special military operation”.
European powers and Ukraine said they do not think Putin is serious about peace and that the world must do everything to prevent Moscow winning the war.
Russia’s war economy grew at 4.1% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024, but growth is slowing sharply this year under the weight of high interest rates.
Sberbank CEO German Gref, one of Russia’s most powerful bankers, said on Thursday that the economy was stagnating and would fall into recession unless interest rates were slashed, while a report from the central bank suggested it was already technically in recession.
Reuters
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