With the EU Council to vote next week on renewing Ukraine-related economic sanctions against Russia

With the EU Council to vote next week on renewing Ukraine-related economic sanctions against Russia, Kyiv’s New Europe Center has produced a study indicating that the economic price paid by the EU amounts to ‘three cups of coffee’ for each EU citizen. While EU farm exports to Russia, dropped by EUR 5.4 billion from 2013 to 2017, EU farm exports to other markets increased three times as much, by EUR 18 billion. During that five year period, EU trade with Russia dropped by an average of 2.3%. Oddly, the countries most skeptical about sanctions, suffered less than the average: Germany – 1.3%; Italy – 1%; Greece – 0.7%; and France – 0.6%.