EU Sanctions on Russia Have 'Boomerang Effect' on Latvia – Russian Envoy

Russian and EU economies are like 'communicating vessels' and sanctions against Russia imposed by the West have a boomerang effect on the Latvian economy, Russia's ambassador said.

RIGA (Sputnik) — Russia and the European Union's economies are interconnected, meaning that Western sanctions imposed against Moscow over Ukraine have a "boomerang effect" on Latvia, Russia's ambassador to the republic told RIA Novosti.

"Russian and EU economies are like 'communicating vessels' and sanctions [against Russia] contrived by the West have a boomerang effect on the Latvian economy," Alexander Veshnyakov said.

Russia's relations with the European Union deteriorated in 2014, when the bloc, along with the United States, introduced several rounds of economic sanctions against Russia, accusing it of meddling in the crisis in Ukraine.

Russia has denied Western accusations of its involvement in Ukrainian conflict, responding to the sanctions with a one-year ban on the import of a range of food products from countries that imposed them, including Latvia, beginning August 2014.

According to the diplomat, the restrictions have significantly hurt Latvian food and consumer goods industries oriented toward exporting to Russia.

"The losses in the dairy products industry are estimated at 60 million euros [$67 million]," Veshnyakov said, adding that the political situation had a negative effect on investment and tourism, as well.

The ambassador said that 2014 was the most unsuccessful year for Russia-Latvia relations in the past two decades and stressed the need for both nations to find a way out of the "run of bad luck in interstate relations."

In October 2014, Latvian Economy Minister Vjaceslavs Dombrovskis said that Latvia's gross domestic product had dropped by 0.25 percent due to Russia's food embargo.