EU Has Reached Limit of Its Capabilities to Impose Financial Sanctions on Russia, Borrell Says

Since Moscow launced a military operation in Ukraine to "demilitarise and de-Nazify" Russia's neighbour, the West has imposed a slew of anti-Russian sanctions, targeting the country's businesses, media outlets, economy, culture, and more.

The European Union has reached the limit of its capabilities to impose financial sanctions on Russia, the bloc's foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday.

"With regard to financial sanctions, of course, you can always go further, but we have already reached the limits of what we can do. We did everything we could", Borrell told France Info in an interview.

The EU foreign policy chief underlined that the bloc must "avoid going to war with Russia because otherwise it would be the third world war".

Regarding a possible ban on Russian gas and oil - a measure taken earlier by the United States, Borrell said that it would be much more difficult for the EU to do than for Washington.

"For the United States, it's not too difficult because they consume almost no Russian oil", he explained. "Saying 'I won't do what I'm not already doing' doesn't have much merit".

Speaking about the sanctions already imposed on Moscow by the EU, Borrell described them as "very tough", saying that they caused the Russian ruble to plummet about 40 percent.

On Wednesday, Borrell listed the new sanctions imposed on Russia by the bloc: among those sanctioned were 160 individuals, including "oligarchs, Russian Federation Council members". Additionally, the new sanctions targeted crypro-assets, the Belarusian banking sector, and the export of maritime navigation technology to Russia.

The Kremlin condemned the sanctions imposed over the military operation in Ukraine as an "unprecedented economic war" waged against Russia by the West. Particularly, Moscow said that the West's aggressive stance against Russia makes the situation in the energy sector very complicated. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia must do whatever is in its best interests to win the war.

The military operation in Ukraine was launched by Moscow on 24 February, with the goal to "demilitarise and de-Nazify" the nation's neighbour.

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