MILAN, September 13 (RIA Novosti) – The European Union and the United States are harming their own business by imposing sanctions against Russia, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Saturday.
"The sanctions are having a negative impact on all sides. This concerns any restrictions – in trade, financing, investment – these are the worst decisions of the governments that go against their own business," Siluanov said.
"Of course, when we talk about economic growth, when we talk about removing all trade barriers, speak against protectionism , when we talk about the goal of increasing economic growth by 2 percent (set by the G20 in February in Sydney) - it cannot be achieved under trade, financial and other restrictions," the minister added.
On Friday, the US Treasury Department confirmed that it was expanding sanctions against Russian companies and increasing the number of sanctioned Russian entities in the financial, energy and defense sectors. Under the new restrictions, Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, was added to the list of sanctioned financial institutions.
Also on Friday, a new round of sanctions against Russia, approved by the European Union Monday, came into force. The EU restrictions prohibit three major Russian oil companies (Rosneft, Transneft, Gazprom Neft) and three major defense companies (Oboronprom, United Aircraft Corporation and Uralvagonzavod) from seeking financing on European capital markets.
Moscow warned that it could respond to new Western sanctions to protect Russia's interests.
