Austrian politician: Sanctions against Russia have harmed Europeans

Former Austrian Vice Chancellor Heinz Christian Strache warned that European sanctions against Russia could not make it submit to Western will and that it had harmed the Europeans themselves. 

“We live under the sanctions that have deceived us that we can gain something by bringing Russia to its knees,” RIA Novosti quoted Strache as saying in a meeting in Vienna. 

He added: “This is not the case at all as we see a positive trade surplus in Russia and if we talk about oil trade and gas, Russian revenues have grown from 100 billion to 220 billion this year.”

He said: “We are suffering from self inflicted  harm, , as we see an increase in the prices of electricity, gas, and food, as many experts warn of the danger of this developing further, and in March and April we will face a wave of bankruptcy.” 

Yesterday, Vienna witnessed demonstrations in which the participants called on the Austrian authorities to reconsider the decision to support the European Union’s sanctions policy against Russia and to maintain the country’s neutrality in full.

Inas Abdulkareem