Europeans have argued anti-Russia sanctions were unnecessary
14:16, 24 December
Photo: Pixabay
The E.U. renewed its Russia sanctions last week. Not all Europeans are in favor. They regard Moscow as important in both economic and geopolitical terms.
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In 2015, newly elected Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called the sanctions “senseless” and threatened to undermine the sanction regime. In 2018, Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Salvini, announced that he would strive to lift the sanctions, claiming his government wasn’t afraid to veto them.
Poll data suggests that only 10 percent of respondents in Spain would like to see economic sanctions against Russia. And not all Europeans view Russia as a threat: Public opinion polls in Bulgaria show the United States as the biggest threat; while in Hungary and Greece only 14 and 39 percent of citizens, respectively, list Russia as their country’s biggest threat.
However, public opinion in several countries pushed for tough sanctions. For example, 62 percent of Poles demanded a tightening of the sanction regime.
