DISINFO: Western sanctions hurt EU more than Russia, only US benefits
SUMMARY
Western sanctions against have inflicted more pain on the EU economy than on Russia's. Both the sanctions and the Nord Stream explosions were orchestrated to make Europe dependent on expensive LNG imports from the United States, which is the only beneficiary of these anti-Russian measures.
RESPONSE
The claim advances recurring disinformation narratives painting the sanctions on Russia as primarily hurting Western economies, and portraying the ongoing energy crisis as a "self-inflicted" problem.
In 2022, the European countries actively switched to LNG deliveries as the main alternative source of gas after the Russian decision to cut off gas supplies to Europe.
After the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian authorities completely destroyed the European trust in Gazprom as a predictable and solid partner. Throughout 2022, Russia deliberately cut the gas supplies to the EU and made impossible further gas supplies through the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines.
The EU adopted so far nine sanction packages against Russia due to its illegal aggression and occupation of Ukrainian territories. The EU is preparing a 10th package of sanctions, which will focus on technology that may be used by Russia’s military and reducing sanctions circumvention.
Europe is facing an energetic crisis that is directly linked not to the sanctions, but to Russia’s unjustified invasion of Ukraine and its use of gas supplies as a weapon of war. The EU took steps “to secure the EU’s energy supplies, such as a gas storage regulation, a gas demand reduction regulation, the creation of an EU energy platform and outreach initiatives for the diversification of supply sources.” Russia is no longer a stable and reliable supplier and while Europe is indeed facing an energy crisis with diversification to other sources, it is still set to grow this year according to the European Commission's summer 2022 forecast, while Russia's economy is expected to contract by 6% in 2022.
It is estimated that in 2022, the Russian GPD reduced by up to perhaps 4.5%.
In addition, a recent study from Yale University takes a detailed look into the effects sanctions are having on the Russian economy, concluding that “business retreats and sanctions are catastrophically crippling the Russian economy.”
Despite benefiting from high energy prices, the IMF still expects Russia’s economy will contract by over 3 percent this year. Lost investment, export controls, and constraints on Russia’s real economy will create a drag on Russia’s growth prospects for years to come. Significantly, U.S. sanctions and export controls have severed Russia’s access to key technologies and industrial inputs that erode its military capability.
See also the assessment of EU HRVP Josep Borrell: sanction policy is working and strongly impacts the Russian economy.
The Autumn 2022 Eurobarometer survey shows that three-quarters of EU citizens approve of the EU’s overall support of Ukraine as well as the specific measures including sanctions against Russia. Democracy, human rights, and free speech are paramount to EU citizens as they call on the European Parliament to defend these values on which the EU is founded.