Moscow says extended EU sanctions against Russia ‘cynically’ coincide with Nazi invasion’s anniversary

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has expressed deep disappointment about the influence of the so-called “Russophobic lobby” in the European Union’s Council on Foreign Relations. Russian diplomats say this group “dragged” the EU into its latest extension of sanctions against Russia, which now will remain in effect until at least January 31, 2016.

Moscow says it was especially cynical that the EU chose to extend its sanctions against Russia on June 22, the 74th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in World War II.

Russian diplomats also say officials in Brussels are concealing the damage the EU’s sanctions against Russia have done to Europeans. Russia’s Foreign Ministry says Europe has lost upwards of a million jobs because of the sanctions, though it’s not clear what the basis is for this figure.

It looks particularly cynical that the EU nations made this decision to extend the anti-Russian sanctions on June 22, the day fascist Germany attacked the USSR. We’d like to believe that this is a coincidence, and not a specially premeditated step.

According to a recent study by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (Wifo), the EU may lose 100 billion euros (about $114 billion) and about 2 million jobs, as a result of sanctions against Russia and Russia’s counter-sanctions.

Wifo’s estimates contradict official EU statistics, which show that the embargo on Russia has not had any significant effect on EU members’ economies. Die Welt notes that the EU does not publish concrete data about losses from shrinking exports to Russia.

The EU imposed sanctions on Russia in March 2014 because of Russia’s intervention in Ukraine. Since then, European officials have tightened sanctions several times. In August 2014, Russia imposed counter-sanctions on the EU, banning imports of several categories of products, mostly food.

In September 2009, the Obama Administration committed a similar WWII-related faux pas, announcing on anniversary of the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland that the US would pull back from commitments in Eastern Europe to build a missile defense system.