The expert stated that after the application of more than 17,800 punitive measures against the Eurasian giant, the countries of the European Union (EU) recorded losses of 785 billion euros, since 2022 alone.
During a conference at the CIEM headquarters in the capital, Rodríguez stated that the aforementioned losses were part of the boomerang effect of the EU’s partial boycott of the purchase of Russian hydrocarbons, while that regional entity quadrupled expenses to buy those supplies.
To achieve this, the community bloc resorted, among other sources, to the purchase of American liquefied gas, with a value 40 percent higher than the natural gas and oil that Russia sent to that region.
Likewise, the instability in the world fuel market led to an increase in prices, with the consequent gain for Russia, which obtained equal or higher income with less sales volume, explained the former Minister of Economy.
Before February 24, 2022, when President Vladimir Putin ordered a military operation to protect the rebellious region of Donbass, Europe received 2.3 million barrels of crude oil per day from Russia, the basis of its economic competitiveness, the specialist estimated.
The confrontation in Ukraine caused, among other things, the rupture of traditional supply chains in the world, when there was a significant obstruction in the supply of cereals, whose 30 percent of its production is concentrated in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, he noted.
In addition, products such as rice doubled their price, not only due to problems with transportation chains, but because some important exporters interrupted their sales for internal food safety reasons, explained the CIEM advisor.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian conflict greatly influenced the increase in defense spending in the world, which reached two trillion 240 billion dollars, while the Western powers supplied weapons to Ukraine for 156 thousand 260 million of that currency. .
The United States tops the list of war expenditures in 2024, with 800 billion dollars, followed by China, with 292 billion, and Russia, with 111 billion, Rodríguez indicated.
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