Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticised Western sanctions and described the restrictions as “nonsense”. This was reported by the press office of the Russian Embassy in the US on its Facebook page.
According to the Kremlin leader, he intends to create ‘favourable conditions’ for European companies that continue to operate in Russia following the outbreak of full-scale war against Ukraine.
Putin claims that Russia has “many friends in Europe”, although some of them have been forced to leave the Russian market.
“When some companies left us under pressure from Western European governments, our friends from those countries were almost in tears… Some, incidentally, are still operating, and we are trying to create appropriate favourable conditions for them,” said the Russian president.
Earlier, on 12 October, EU foreign ministers approved a new package of sanctions against Russia. It targets nearly 1,600 individuals and entities and is aimed at the Russian military-industrial complex. This was announced by the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas.
According to her, since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Union has never before expanded its sanctions lists on such a large scale.
The previous, 21st package of sanctions against Russia was adopted by the EU in July 2026. In particular, EU member states have decided to maintain the current price cap on Russian oil for a further 12 months. This measure is intended to deprive Russia of a significant portion of its oil revenues against a backdrop of price volatility in the energy markets.