EU Assistance to Ukraine Comes at Expense of European Economy - Kremlin
© SERGEI SUPINSKY
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that the European Union's assistance to Ukraine came at the expense of the bloc's economy and industry that was already facing difficulties.
On Tuesday, the Financial Times reported that the EU was working on a backup plan to help Ukraine, which would require member states to issue national financial guarantees, enabling the European Commission to borrow up to 20 billion euros ($22 billion) for Ukraine in 2024. The scheme does not require that all member states issue guarantee and will allow the participants to circumvent Hungary's objections.
23 December 2023, 07:42 GMT
"The money is allocated at the expense of the EU members' economies that are already going through a rough time. The money is allocated to the detriment of the EU states' industries and to the detriment of the EU countries' future," Peskov told reporters, commenting on the EU's backup mechanism plan.
In mid-December, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vetoed an increase in the EU budget for 2024-2027, including 50 billion euros in macro-financial aid to Kiev.
After Russia launched its special military op in Ukraine in 2022, first the US, and then shortly after Europe, adopted comprehensive sanctions against Russia. However, the anti-Russian restrictions failed to yield the desired effect, as Moscow managed to withstand external economic and political pressure, showing steady economic growth over the period of the conflict.
Earlier, Moscow's Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) confirmed a robust 5.5% GDP growth for the third quarter in December and upgraded its annual GDP growth estimate for January-September to 3% (up from the previous 2.9%). This positive tendency de facto pushes Russia to be Europe's economic leader, Russian presidential aide Maxim Oreshkin said in an interview with Expert magazine.
