MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/. Speculations about the introduction of another package of anti-Russian sanctions are hypothetical, because such a measure would become even more painful to the EU’s own economy, Russia’s permanent representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, said on Rossiya-24 round-the-clock television news channel on Wednesday.
"For the time being such speculations are hypothetical. The array of sanctions that have already been adopted is quite painful for the economy of the European Union itself. Another one would hit it still harder," he explained.
Chizhov also compared the West’s intentions to impose new sanctions on Russia to a creative process that would not stop soon.
"As for the latest package, which was pompously presented as the seventh, the European Union’s leadership eventually avoided calling it the 7th and thought up a euphemistic name for it. Some wits even referred to it as the 6.5th package, because what the most radically-minded countries were waiting for, in other words, the restriction of natural gas supplies from Russia, did not happen," Chizhov concluded.
Earlier, the Politico newspaper, citing a high-ranking European diplomat, said that the European Union had exhausted almost all opportunities for imposing sanctions on Moscow, and it would be difficult for the EU to introduce more restrictions without harming itself.