The Kremlin gave its own response on Monday, asserting that no sanctions will ever be able to force Russia to change course regarding Ukraine. This response from Moscow comes just hours after both the United States and the European Union indicated they are considering imposing additional sanctions.
The West has imposed thousands of different sanctions on Russia for the war that began in Ukraine in 2022 and the annexation of Crimea in 2014, in an attempt to sink Russia’s economy, which has undermined $2.2 trillion, and to undermine support for President Vladimir Putin.
Putin maintains that the Russian economy, which has grown faster than G7 countries and defied Western predictions of collapse, has endured and has ordered businesses and officials to defy sanctions by every possible means.
“No sanctions will be able to force the Russian Federation to change the consistent position that our president has repeatedly spoken about,” Peskov told Kremlin correspondent Alexander Yunashev.
US President Donald Trump stated on Sunday that he is ready to proceed with a second phase of imposing sanctions on Russia.
The European Union’s preparation for imposing new sanctions against Russia is closely coordinated with the United States, EU Council President Antonio Costa said on Monday.
Peskov stated that Europe and Ukraine are doing everything they can to draw the United States into their orbit.
He said the Kremlin’s preference was to resolve the conflict through diplomatic means, but if that was impossible, then what Putin calls a “special military operation” would continue.
Russia’s war economy grew at a rate of 4.1% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024, despite multiple rounds of Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but the economy is slowing sharply this year under the burden of high interest rates.
