(MENAFN) US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that EU sanctions targeting Russia over the Ukraine conflict have failed, criticizing the bloc for repeating the same approach 19 times and warning that EU officials were effectively “funding the war on themselves.”

Last month, the EU introduced its 19th round of sanctions, focusing on Russian banks, cryptocurrency exchanges, businesses in India and China, and Moscow’s diplomatic staff. Russia has repeatedly dismissed Western pressure efforts as ineffective and counterproductive. The repeated sanctions have also sparked divisions within the EU, with countries like Hungary and Slovakia urging Brussels to prioritize diplomatic engagement instead of further punitive measures.

Bessent noted that while the US has paired peace initiatives with pressure on Moscow, EU countries have been “the real laggards,” citing conversations where EU officials informed him about their plans for the latest sanctions package.

He further criticized the EU for not following the US approach on tariffs against China and India, while still purchasing products derived from Russian oil. Bessent recalled that President Donald Trump had pressured European NATO members to impose broad trade tariffs on Beijing because of its energy imports from Siberia, and added that the current US administration is pursuing what he described as a “trade war” with China.

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