Scott Ritter: EU’s Anti-Russian Sanctions ‘Have Boomeranged Back on Europe’

EU packages of sanctions on Russia have backfired, becoming "one of the greatest economic disasters in modern European history," former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and ex-UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter pointed out.

"These sanctions, which are designed to punish Russia, have failed to do so. In fact, they've boomeranged back on Europe. And Europe continues to move forward, putting more sanctions into more sanctions, all the while Russia gets stronger economically," the ex-US Marine Corps intelligence officer noted.

He dubbed the EU “the economic arm of a gaggle of organizations and institutions, which include the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, all of which serve fundamentally at the behest of the United States.”

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"So the sanctions that were implemented by the European Union were done so because the United States wanted Russia to be isolated" and "confronted by Ukraine that was functioning as a de facto proxy of NATO," Ritter argued.

The former UN weapons inspector insisted that America is using the sanctions “to achieve a larger strategic objective, not only weakening Russia but also weakening Europe, so that the United States emerges from this [Ukraine] conflict stronger.”

"It's been the goal of the United States for decades to break Europe of its addiction to cheap Russian energy. So the sanctions and the blowback are achieving that result. Maybe Europe doesn't realize this, or they haven't woken up to the reality that the United States isn't their friend," Ritter concluded.

He was echoed by Gunnar Beck, outgoing member of the European Parliament for the Alternative for Germany party, lawyer and academic specializing in EU law, who told Sputnik that it’s safe to say the EU shot itself in the foot by deciding to impose sanctions on Russia.

"There's no doubt that the economic impact [from the sanctions] is felt to a much greater extent here in the EU itself compared to Russia. I mean, the Russian economy, according to the official data, is doing very well and it appears to have adapted to the sanctions," Beck pointed out.

The EU’s sanctions on Russian raw materials, including oil and gas "have hurt primarily the European economies," which "used to be able to rely on predictable, high quality and cheap gas and oil imports from Russia," according to the expert.

These economies, he went on, "still cannot do without importing oil and gas from Russia, but they're now doing it via third countries at much higher prices," with Russia continuing to sell its oil and gas.

"So the EU has basically harmed itself with these sanctions, or rather to be more precise, the bloc has massively harmed European industry and European consumers. But it [the restrictive measures] don’t appear to have had much impact on the Russian economy," Beck emphasized.

The sanctions “have not had the impact that the EU hoped they would have," which was predictable, per the expert.

"The EU probably underestimated the degree to which the Russian government had prepared for the eventuality of sanctions, including far-reaching restrictions on energy imports into the EU, as well as financial transactions. On this occasion, I think the sanctions have proved ineffective and they have failed insofar as Russia is concerned," Beck summed up.

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