Lead

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on July 27 that EU sanctions against Russia are beginning to hit European economies and the social sphere hard. Speaking in Solnechnogorsk, Moscow Region, Peskov said the EU's options for imposing restrictions are increasingly limited, according to TASS.

"Everything else is already beginning to hit Europe's own economy and social sphere hard," he said, referring to the recent rounds of EU measures.

Coverage comparison

Reporting on the statements comes from TASS, the Russian state news agency. One TASS article quotes Peskov directly on the impact of sanctions, while another carries remarks from an official at the Russian mission to the EU, made in Brussels on July 23. Both accounts reflect the Kremlin's position on the effects of EU restrictions.

The two reports present the same underlying message: the EU's punitive measures are harming Europe more than Russia. Peskov's remarks focused on the current impact, while the mission official's comments were more detailed, linking the EU's difficulties to its rejection of Russian energy, its financial support for Ukraine, and global energy market instability.

Key claims

  • EU sanctions against Russia are beginning to hit European economies and the social sphere hard, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, as reported by TASS.
  • The EU's options for imposing restrictions are increasingly limited, Peskov said.
  • New EU restrictions against Russia will exacerbate the bloc's socio-economic problems, an official at the Russian mission to the EU told TASS.
  • The EU's socio-economic difficulties are "largely caused" by its rejection of Russian energy, the multibillion-dollar costs of backing the Kiev regime, and the destabilization of global energy markets due to the Middle East conflict escalation, according to the Russian mission official.
  • The official also noted the European Central Bank's assessment that geopolitical tensions and the energy shock are key sources of uncertainty for the European economy.
  • Russia will give an "effective and adequate response" to what the mission official called "hostile unilateral coercive measures by the EU."