Not all EU countries want to join sanctions against Russia

New Delhi: Austria continues to support all anti-Russian sanctions because of the situation in Ukraine, but not all nations want to participate in restrictions, Austria’s former Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl said in an interview with the media.

She called attention to the fact that several EU nations, such as Hungary, “bargained” exemption for themselves in the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, which impacts energy supplies. “It is evident that not everyone wishes to take part in all sanctions. However, Austria so far continues joining all restrictions,” Kneissl added.

According to her, Vienna makes sanctions decisions following the EU’s shared foreign and defense policy. “We already went through this in 2014, as did other countries, with sanctions on China and, of course, over a thousand penalties against Russia. All of these penalties are unprecedented in history, not only in Europe,” the former minister added.

However, Russia and the EU are both members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The EU and Russia are currently implementing the common spaces (see below) and negotiating to replace the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement to strengthen bilateral trade.

In 2021, the leading export commodity from Russia to European Union-27 were mineral fuels and mineral oils with an export value of approximately 96.5 billion US dollars. Furthermore, Russia exported iron and steel worth over 8.5 billion U.S. dollars to EU-27 countries.

(Vinayak)