MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The European Union could lose up to €100 billion ($114 billion) due to the anti-Russian sanctions if things remain unchanged, a study by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research revealed Friday.
Die Welt newspaper reported that the research, conducted exclusively for the Leading European Newspaper Alliance (LENA), considered the worst-case scenario, if the sanctions remain in place.
“If the situation does not change fundamentally, our most pessimistic scenario will come true,” one of the research authors Oliver Fritz was quoted as saying by Die Welt.
According to the calculations, current political situation can also affect over 2 million EU jobs because of the declining exports.
Since March 2014, the United States, European Union, and other western countries have sanctioned Russia’s banking, defense and energy sectors over its alleged role in the Ukrainian crisis. Moscow has repeatedly denied those allegations.
In August, Moscow imposed a year-long food embargo on the countries that had sanctioned it.
The decision on the extension of anti-Russian sanctions is due to be made next week at the meeting of EU foreign ministers. Moscow vows new countermeasures if the EU sanctions are kept.
