ANKARA, November 16. /TASS/. Anti-Russian economic restrictions have negative financial and political effects on Europe, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the A haber television channel.
"Europe is not an active participant in the conflict, because it does not have boots on the ground. However, it is nevertheless taking part in it by providing constant financial and [military] support [to the Kiev government], and, therefore, bears the costs. You impose embargoes on Russia, you refuse to buy its fuel, you have no trade with it," he said. "You have to pay the price, both financially and politically."
He went on to say that because of the conflict in Ukraine, European countries have started to invest more heavily into their own military might. "I’m talking about one trillion euro in aggregate expenses. What European countries will allocate the funds for this and which items [of their budgets] will be affected [because of that]? This will affect education, transport, energy sector, healthcare and other basic services. The cost of living will rise," Fidan said.
Speaking about political costs for Europe, the top Turkish diplomat said that "since the start of the conflict, we saw governments changing one after another in European capitals."
"People are starting to ask questions about why would they care about the conflict there [in Ukraine]. They are looking at their own economy, they are looking at their own wallets. And so the Europeans are starting to feel annoyed," Fidan said.