"Sanctions against Russia are working, but not as we would like them to": President's Office shares details of what they are currently working on

The international sanctions being applied against Russia are working, but not to the extent that Ukraine would like.

This was announced by Rostyslav Shurma, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, during the Kyiv International Economic Forum.

"In short, the sanctions are working. Maybe not to the extent or at the speed we would like, but they are working. And this is confirmed by the shutdown of entire sectors of the Russian economy: mechanical engineering, car manufacturing - there is a 70-80% decrease in production", Shurma said.

He added that the general economic situation in Russia was steadily worsening.

"Unfortunately, it is not a 30-50-70% [decrease], as we would like, but the economy is starting to decline and every inhabitant of the enemy country is gradually starting to feel it," he added.

Shurma said that since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Ukrainian side has had quite radical demands with regard to international sanctions and wanted them to be introduced very rapidly.

"When we talked about sanctions, we asked our partners: let's sanction the entire oil and gas industry, let's sanction the entire banking system and disconnect it from SWIFT, let's impose personal sanctions on all politically exposed persons (PEPs), let's freeze all the funds in all Russian citizens’ accounts above $1 million", Shurma said.

He is sure that measures like these could have radically changed the situation, but the international reality turned out to be a little different, and unfortunately it was not possible to move so quickly in this direction.

"We are moving quite gradually, tangentially, step by step, package by package, and I am sure that we will get there," Shurma said.

He shared details of what the Ukrainian side is currently working on:

• sanctions against Russia’s financial sector (banks, types of transactions);
• "loopholes" in several sectoral sanctions that allow certain companies and industries, particularly the metals industry, to continue operating;
• the extension and strengthening of personal sanctions introduced by Ukraine on all those involved in the war.

"We have really ramped up this work in Ukraine: almost 5,000 people have been sanctioned literally in the last few weeks, and I think thousands more will be sanctioned every week from sector to sector. Maybe Ukrainian sanctions are not so terrible for them, but what does scare them is that the fact that information about these sanctions is immediately passed on to all our international partners and is very often the basis for the imposition of corresponding sanctions in the EU, the USA and the UK," Shurma explained.

Shurma also highlighted the sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sectors, particularly oil.

"A price cap for Russian oil will come into effect on 5 December. We are still negotiating certain details of this formula, but in any case, we understand that this will definitely hit the income of the Russian Federation to the tune of tens of billions of dollars, possibly $100+ billion, every year," Shurma concluded.

Economichna Pravda

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