EU officials stress that the anti-Russian sanctions proved to be efficient but the Russian government states that these sanctions are not working and the country will only benefit from them. Recently, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the sanctions imposed by the West were effective and correct. He added that a unified European response to the Ukrainian conflict surprised Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Western sanctions are effective and correct. The country is cut off from world technological progress. The longer this goes on, the more damage will be done to Russia,” the chancellor stressed. According to him, Europe's “strong and unified response” to this conflict "surprised Putin." At the same time, Scholz admitted that Germany was also suffering from the imposed sanctions. He also pinpointed that the government agreed on a plan to provide financial assistance to households and would support energy-intensive companies.
