MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd February, 2022) The solidarity rhetoric advanced by the European Union while imposing sanctions against Russia may contradict the national interests of some member states, Russian Ambassador to Spain Yuri Korchagin told Sputnik.
On Tuesday, the EU adopted a fresh round of sanctions against Russia following its recognition of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk the day before. Sanctions target 351 Russian lawmakers, who voted in favor of the recognition, as well as 27 individuals and legal entities.
"The notorious solidarity now looks like 'totalitarian solidarity': a step to the left, a step to the right - immediately execution, immediately you as a country will be accused of working to undermine this solidarity. Everyone is tied up here... I do not want to make allusions. It surprises me when this solidarity is put above the real national interests of countries, in this case, NATO countries or EU countries," Korchagin said.
EU sanctions are "a double-edged weapon" that eventually strikes its authors, the diplomat is convinced. In particular, Spain lost 40,000 jobs in 2014 when it was "forced to join" a set of economic sanctions against Russia for the sake of solidarity, he recalled, adding that primarily small and medium-sized enterprises suffered.
Korchagin does not rule out that the new round of sanctions may again turn against the Spanish economy.
"Our trade may not be as big as we would like. Although in 2013 it amounted to almost 14 billion Euros ($15.8 billion), then it fell almost 4 times, and now it has grown to more than 6 billion euros, and this is a good indicator... It is hard to say. Maybe the sanctions will cause a drop in mutual trade again this year," Korchagin explained.
The diplomat noted that sanctions are "an illegitimate tool" yet the West resorts to it as the only mechanism of interaction.
"Either because of initially poor university training, or professionally they are not well-off, and they have forgotten, or do not know what diplomatic tactics are, what is a diplomatic strategy," he noted.
The situation in Donbas, where the conflict has been ongoing since 2014, has escalated in recent days, with the breakaway regions reporting increased shelling by Ukrainian forces and ordering general mobilization in anticipation of an offensive by the Ukrainian military.
