Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned the sanctions placed on it by Western countries after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Putin said at a forum in St Petersburg on Friday that the sanctions were more harmful to those who imposed them, and that the economic blitzkrieg against Russia had no chance of succeeding from the very beginning. He tried to assure Russians that Moscow was capable of overcoming the mad and thoughtless sanctions.
Many western countries have imposed restrictions on Russia in order to strike a balance between punishing the nation for its war on Ukraine and protecting their own economies and interests.
Mr Putin has claimed that the EU alone could lose more than $400 bn 326 bn because of all these restrictions.
The Russian president said that inflation was increasing across the 27-member bloc and the real interests of people in Europe were being sidelined, according to BBC News. He didn't provide any further explanation.
In its latest round of sanctions, the UK is targeting Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the country's children's rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova. They were both subject to asset freezes, travel bans and transport sanctions.
Putin allies Sergey Savostyanov and Alexey Isaykin, deputy of the Moscow city Duma and president of the Volga-Dnepr Group, and four Russian army colonels, known for having been involved in atrocities against civilians in Bucha, were also punished.
Foreign secretary Liz Truss said that they will not tire of defending freedom and democracy, and keeping up the pressure on Putin until Ukraine succeeds.
Speaking at the ongoing 25th St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russia s deputy prime minister Viktoria Abramchenko said the sanctions placed on Russia by the western world have worsened the global food market, which has already been damaged by the coronaviruses.
Seamless marine transportation and air freight supply chains could be suspended as a result of the sanctions. Russia can no longer export food to those places in need, Ms Abramchenko said.
Ukraine s allies have been imposing a raft of sanctions and economic penalties on the aggressor since February 24 in the hope of bringing Russia to its knees by targeting its leaders and threatening its economy, while also providing Volodymyr Zelensky s forces with military hardware and funding.
After almost four months of fighting, Russia continues to make gradual incursions in the country s south and east, destroying whole cities, despite clearly finding its own forces less well-prepared and equipped than anticipated.