Impressive numbers show how Europe suffers from anti-Russian sanctions

Europe has lost more than $100 billion because anti-Russian sanctions. At the same time, the Russian economy has lost about $55 billion, UN experts said.

The recent package of US sanctions against Russia raises most serious concerns in Europe. For example, German entrepreneurs are concerned about possible fines because of their projects in Russia and call on European politicians and diplomats not to allow the further tightening of the sanctions regime.

In general, the EU economy loses $3.2 billion monthly because of the sanctions against the Russian Federation, UN special rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the implementation of human rights Idris Jazairi said. According to experts, the European Union has lost twice as much as Russia since 2014 because of the sanctions - more than $100 billion.

During the report, it was said that the anti-Russian sanctions were counterproductive, because they affected initiating countries as a result of globalisation.

One can not, of course, exclude the impact of the sanctions on Russia: they could become a reason for the decline in Russia's GDP during 2014-2016 by 1% maximum. The sanctions have also led to the growing number of people living below the poverty line in Russia. On the whole, the Western sanctions cause much more damage to the West, whereas the Russian economy has suffered at a much greater extent lot more as a result of the global drop in oil prices.

For the time being, European business continues to suffer along with the Russian economy. "Under the new rules, the US government is entitled to impose fines on foreign companies if they participate in projects related to investing, servicing, manufacturing equipment for Russian gas pipelines, especially for the Nord Stream-2 project," representatives of the Russian-German Foreign Trade Chamber said.

A poll conducted in August 2017 among members of the Russian-German Foreign Trade Chamber showed that 97% of polled representatives of German business evaluate the new American law on sanctions negatively.

Only three percent of the polled German companies approach sanctions against Russia positively. More than half of respondents (52%) said that the new sanctions, will affect their businesses directly or indirectly. About a third of respondents (30%) indicated that the new US sanctions would not affect them.

Almost two-thirds of German companies (65%) expect the sanctions to show a negative impact on their businesses. Almost three quarters of respondents (72%) plan to keep the level of business activity and investments in Russia on the same level, and 15% intend to even increase their activity and raise the volume of investments in the Russian market. Thirteen percent of respondents intend to reduce their activity because of the sanctions.

European businessmen believe that the sanctions are designed to promote economic interests of the United States. Almost three quarters of companies (73%) call on the EU and the government of Germany to respond.