EAEU Successfully Overcomes Western Sanctions Against Russia and Belarus, Says Russian Foreign Ministry

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) successfully overcomes the illegal Western sanctions imposed against Russia and Belarus. This statement was made by Alexander Starkov, head of the Department for Eurasian Economic Integration of the CIS countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry, during the 6th Global Conference of Young Diplomats held in Kazan. The information is reported by TASS.

According to him, all of this is being done within the framework of legal norms. There is no talk of circumventing the sanctions; rather, there is a possibility to minimize their negative impacts, including for EAEU allies.

The diplomat also presented statistical data demonstrating the successes of the EAEU. 'Armenia and Kyrgyzstan have received an additional GDP growth of 1.5 percentage points since 2016, Belarus has seen 4.9, and Kazakhstan 0.5. Although these figures may not seem significant, it is important to consider that the turbulence in the economic sector in recent years has greatly affected the development of our union,' he noted.

Starkov added that thousands of joint ventures have already been created within the framework of the union, and the volume of mutual investments has grown, totaling about $16 billion. Mutual trade turnover set a new record in 2022, reaching $83.3 billion.

It is noteworthy that Western states have imposed extensive sanctions against Russia in response to the military special operation that began in late February 2022. The European Union has already adopted 11 packages of restrictive measures. Belarus has also come under restrictions along with Russia.

The EAEU, established in 2015, includes Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.