DISINFO: EU ban on Russian cars is revenge for the failure of sanctions
SUMMARY
Russian GDP increased by over 2 percent in January-July 2023. This statistic indicates that the western sanctions turned out to be ineffective. The European Commission’s decision to ban the entry of cars with Russian licence plates, phones, and other goods from Russia is revenge.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Western sanctions on Russia claiming that they have been ineffective or backfired.
Regd. cars originating in Russia: these sanction measures are not new but was introduced with the 8th package of EU sanctions in October 2022. Sanctions are adopted by the EU Member States unanimously in response to Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine. As per the case law of the European Court of Justice, sanctions need to be interpreted broadly, among other reasons to ensure the effectiveness of the adopted prohibitions and to avoid circumvention.
The EU and other countries around the world adopted several sanction packages against Russia due to its illegal aggression and occupation of Ukrainian territories. Read this summary of the EU’s response to assist Ukraine one year after large-scale Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
In an early September 2023 explanatory note (see page 169) to its rules on sanctions imposed over the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the European Commission stated that Russians were temporarily barred from bringing some personal goods or vehicles into the EU.
Russia’s economy, indeed, expanded in the first half of 2023, particularly in the second quarter, yet Russia’s industrial output and, with it country’s GDP, is to a large extent boosted thanks to rising military spending (see here and here). Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) are significantly down and the budget deficit is supported from the national welfare and the stability funds. Hence, sustainability of the current economic growth is highly questionable.
The July 2022 study from Yale University took a detailed look into the effects of sanctions on the Russian economy and concluded that "business retreats and sanctions are catastrophically crippling the Russian economy". In July 2023 independent reknown economist Vladimir Milov analysed the state of the Russian economy: From Bad to Worse. See EU's summary on the impact of sanctions on the Russian economy here.
Read an earlier detailed analysis of the Russian disinformation narratives about EU sanctions and a few related cases: The New York Times reports that Russia is barely affected by sanctions; Sanctions are beneficial to Russia so the West should recognise Crimea as Russian; The EU lost more from sanctions than Russia, European sanctions against Russia do not work.