MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th February, 2023) Robert Habeck, the German minister for economic affairs, suggested Thursday that Russia should be defeated on the battlefield, rather than with sanctions.
"I believe that Russia can only be brought to its knees on the battlefield," he told a press conference on sanctions evasion.
Habeck said that economic sanctions on Russia could degrade its military capabilities but would never end the conflict in Ukraine. His ministry has been pressing the EU to include curbs on re-exports of EU-made goods to Russia in the next sanctions package.
Russia has been able to largely withstand the sanctions pressure that the European Union and its allies have been piling on it since last February. The United Nations estimated in its January World Economic Situation and Prospects report that the Russian economy contracted by just around 3% last year, versus up to 15% it was projected to shrink at the start of 2022.
