Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov spoke about the approach of the European Union to the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions.

In a conversation with journalists, he drew attention to the sluggishness of the existing bureaucratic system in the EU.

Peskov announced the "manic" commitment of the European Union to sanctions that harm the association's own interests and its residents.

As the presidential press secretary noted, the United States is acting in this matter much more pragmatically.

“They are introducing licenses that provide for the removal of sanctions where it is beneficial to the United States itself.

The European bureaucracy, which in terms of its volume exceeds the volume of the Soviet bureaucracy, is even more “viscous,” Peskov noted.

According to him, this circumstance does not allow Europe to promptly make adjustments to its sanctions policy.

“Unfortunately, this is the reality and this is the course of events that the Europeans themselves choose,” Peskov concluded.

Earlier it became known that the EU Council approved the seventh package of sanctions of the European Union against Russia.

As the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on July 21, "enhanced and extended sanctions" are being introduced against Moscow.

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, in particular, indicated that the new sanctions list included Sberbank and a number of other defendants, among which he mentioned the military, the Night Wolves motorcycle club and “persons associated with disinformation.”

A day earlier, the Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the EU, Arnoldas Pranckevicius, announced the approval of the seventh package of sanctions, which, according to him, included a ban on gold trading, new export control measures, a freezing of Sberbank assets and targeted restrictions on more than 50 individuals and legal entities.

At the same time, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said earlier that the new package of sanctions did not include additional bans on energy supplies.

At the same time, the EU later announced the application of adjustments to existing anti-Russian sanctions.

In particular, the European Union said that the provision of technical support to Russia in the field of aviation products and technologies "will be allowed to the extent necessary to ensure the work of the International Civil Aviation Organization to establish technical and industrial standards."

“The ban on entering into any transactions with Russian state organizations will be slightly adjusted to ensure access to justice,” the EU said in a statement.

Another measure was taken "to avoid possible negative consequences in the field of world food and energy security."

  • RIA News

  • © Konstantin Mikhalchevsky

“A decision has been made to extend the exemption from the ban on participation in transactions with certain state organizations in relation to transactions related to agricultural products, as well as the transportation of oil to third countries,” the message says.

Commenting on these decisions, a member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Dmitry Belik, in an interview with RT, noted that the European Union "reaps the fruits of its own arrogance."

“The naive belief that the collective West, acting at the behest of the United States, will be able to isolate Russia has failed, now Europe is looking for an opportunity to circumvent its own sanctions or make a number of exceptions from them,” the deputy said.

To save face, the EU "cannot afford not to impose sanctions," he said.

At the same time, the parliamentarian notes, the EU is forced to make exceptions in order to “preserve the remnants of the economy and not fall into the abyss.”

At the same time, the measures themselves are presented as a desire to protect world food and energy security.

It should be noted that earlier Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the editor-in-chief of the RT television channel and the Rossiya Segodnya media group Margarita Simonyan that the EU had already exhausted all possible areas for imposing sanctions against Russia.

Commenting on the prospect of adopting a new package of European sanctions against the Russian Federation, the minister noted that we are talking about the introduction of new sanctions and their withdrawal.

“As for the next announced package of sanctions, what it is, sanctions or even an exemption from sanctions.

Both,” the minister said.

“And now (in the EU) they are forced to think about what they have done and how it affects them.”

Recall that the EU approved the sixth package of sanctions against Russia on June 3.

This was preceded by a long period of approvals.

In accordance with the adopted document, the EU decided to ban the purchase, import or transfer of crude oil and certain petroleum products from Russia to the countries of the European Union.

Experts are also of the opinion that further restrictions from Brussels against Moscow make little sense.

According to the deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, Vladimir Shapovalov, this is a duty measure.

“This is such an on-duty measure that has no significant content.

The sixth package of sanctions relating to energy issues was agreed upon for several months.

And the seventh package was adopted quickly, because there are no serious measures in the seventh package.

The EU adheres to a strategy of further tightening sanctions against Russia, but these sanctions do not make sense, ”Shapovalov said in an interview with RT.

In turn, political scientist Ruslan Balbek drew attention to the consequences of anti-Russian restrictions for Europeans.

According to him, the sanctions packages are like "uppercuts to the European society put on the assembly line."

“You can only hear how the teeth click: first from anger, then from indignation, and now from hopelessness.

But nothing, now European politicians will tell you that a shower is harmful, warm in winter is contraindicated, and filling a full tank in a car is a whole holiday.

Well, the Russians, according to them, suffer greatly from the lack of sweet soda and some brands of cars, ”concluded the expert.