Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy Stanislav Naumov on February 16, in an interview with Izvestia, said that the disputes of the member countries of the European Union (EU) over rubber from Russia are futile.
Earlier in the day, the Politico newspaper wrote that the EU ambassadors were unable to agree on the tenth package of sanctions against Russia. One of the controversial points was synthetic rubber, the import of which wants to limit the European Commission.
“Of course, the EU countries cannot come to some kind of consensus, they can postpone controversial issues until the next package in order to somehow influence our positions. Since this has had no effect on our positions for almost a year now, their internal disputes about rubber are of no importance, ”said the deputy.
He noted that Russia needs to look for new markets for products and “stop allowing foreign policy sovereignty and interests to be exchanged for scarce positions of individual corporations.”
“The only thing the EU could do in its right mind is just stop torturing itself with all these sanctions exercises,” Naumov said.
According to the parliamentarian, sanctions will sooner or later cease to be sensitive both for individual Russian enterprises and for the economy as a whole.
“We will be able to stay in the international economy and will be able to load all the capacities that are in Russia exactly as much as the domestic consumer needs and as much as it is interesting for the external buyer. The EU is not the only point where our foreign economic potential can be realized,” the deputy concluded.
The EU plans to adopt the tenth package of sanctions against Moscow by February 24. About 130 individuals and legal entities, including journalists and military officials, may be blacklisted. Additional trade bans on EU imports of Russian rubber and asphalt or bitumen are expected.
Also, a new round of restrictions involves the introduction of additional trade bans on the export of goods from the EU to the Russian Federation, including trucks, as well as construction equipment. The measures may also affect several banks, including Alfa-Bank, Rosbank, Tinkoff, as well as the National Wealth Fund of Russia.
On February 10, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said that Moscow has the tools to respond to the 10th package of EU sanctions.
Western states have stepped up sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation against the backdrop of a special operation to protect the population of Donbass. The decision to start it was made by Russian President Vladimir Putin against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the region due to Ukrainian shelling.
