The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine responded to the Hungarian Foreign Minister, who believes that the Russian economy has not suffered from sanctions and calls on EU leaders who imposed sanctions against Russia to resign, the message of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's Spokesman Oleh Nikolenko reads.
"The Hungarian Foreign Minister believes that the Russian economy has not suffered from the sanctions. He called on EU leaders who advocated sanctions to resign.
And now let's look at the figures the Council of the European Union, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund give. And here is what we see in Russia:
- Drop in GDP from 5.5 to 9%
- Reduction of trade in goods and services by 30-35%
- Reduction of oil exports to the EU by 90% by the end of the year
- Exit of almost 1000 foreign companies, which accounted for 40% of GDP
- Inflation at the level of 22%
- Inability to import technologies and components
- Rapid decline in production
- Capital market depreciation
The Russian economy has gone thirty years back," Nikolenko wrote.
He said that the statements that European sanctions do not affect the Russian economy are not true.
"No matter how much Moscow or Budapest try to downplay the effectiveness of Brussels' decisions, sanctions do work and limit Russia's ability to finance the war against Ukraine. So who should resign: those who defend peace and security in Europe, or those who erode the EU's efforts to counter Russia's aggression?" - asked a rhetorical question the spokesperson of the Ukrainian diplomatic department.
Yesterday, Szijjarto called on EU leaders who advocated sanctions to "come out and say that they have driven the European economy into recession" and resign: "This would be the normal reaction of those who have harmed Europe by imposing sanctions." The Hungarian diplomat also called the EU decisions "wrong and harmful". In his opinion, the EU leaders "lead the organization to a dead end".
Moreover, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto hosted Iranian Minister of Economy Seyed Ehsan Khandouzi. He expressed a desire to "reintegrate" Iran into the world cooperation system.