Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on November 24 called on the European Commission to assess the impact of the EU’s sanctions against Russia, saying that they did not affect the country’s energy sector.
According to Nauseda, the EU needs to “adjust its course” to put more pressure on Russia, which continues its invasion of Ukraine.
“Paradoxically, the sanctions policy is having just as much impact on our economies, while the consequences for the Russian economy are, I’d say, contradictory,” Nauseda said at a joint news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in Vilnius.
“The Romanian president and I noted that Gazprom’s financial results were far from bad. Even though they sold much less gas, they managed to profit from the sharp rise in gas prices,” Nauseda added. “We’re calling on the European Commission to assess the impact of our sanctions policy, to evaluate the intermediate results and to adjust the course.”
According to the president, Lithuania has always been on the “side of the boldest sanctions”. He urged the EC to adopt the ninth package of sanctions against Russia as soon as possible.
“This must be a major step forward to include the military industry, the remaining Russian banks and Rosatom, which is directly involved in this nuclear aggression against Ukraine,” Nauseda said.
“I do hope that we will be able to take that step and find a consensus among EU member countries,” he added.
The EU has already imposed eight packages of sanctions targeting Russian oil exports and top officials since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
European diplomats say that a new package of sanctions is being prepared following Russia’s latest barrage of missile and drone strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. (LRT/Business World Magazine)