Croatia Prez Zoran Milanovic claims EU's sanctions on Russia to be 'ineffective'

Amid the ongoing brutal war in Eastern Europe, Croatia’s President Zoran Milanovic claimed that sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union (EU) are "ineffective" and that European citizens will have to eventually pay the price. He also condemned the EU's decision not to impose a gas embargo on the Russian Federation. "The reasons the EU has given for not imposing a gas embargo are an insult to common sense. Better impose a full embargo," Milanovic remarked while analyzing the outcome of a two-day EU summit on Ukraine, Euractiv reported. 

Earlier on May 31, EU leaders in Brussels claimed that enforcing a gas embargo would be extremely difficult and that it was unlikely to be included in the next round of sanctions against Russia. The Croatian President further stated that Russia is not feeling the heat of sanctions as the ruble has not fallen much since the onset of war.

"Russia is not feeling the financial impact, and when it does feel it, the war will be over. But the price will be paid by European citizens. Putin will keep his smug smile and oil and gas will just go elsewhere because the demand is high,” Milanovic claimed. 

EU approves sixth round of sanctions package on Russia

At the two-day Brussels summit, the European Council agreed on the sixth round of sanctions package which is expected to cut around two-thirds of oil imports from Russia to the EU member states. In addition, the bloc also decided to remove Sberbank from the SWIFT international payment system, ban three more Russian state-owned broadcasters, and sanction individuals responsible for war crimes in Ukraine. However, Russia has retaliated against the EU's latest round of sanctions on oil imports, saying that Moscow will find other importers of its oil.

Russia managed to evade most international sanctions: Zelenskyy

It is pertinent to mention here that several countries and organizations have imposed numerous sanctions against Russia since it launched a full-scale war on Ukraine on February 24. Meanwhile, the Russian government asserted that it continues to take steps to stabilize the economy and combat the sanctions imposed by the Western countries. Meanwhile, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has claimed that Russia has evaded most international sanctions due to a lack of a cohesive global response to its invasion of Ukraine. 

Image: AP