OREANDA-NEWS Germany proceeds from the fact that new EU sanctions packages will be adopted against Russia, aimed, among other things, at countering circumvention of already imposed restrictions, a representative of the German Ministry of Economy said on Thursday.

"We have now adopted the twelfth package of sanctions in Brussels. There will be other packages, at least according to the current forecast. This means that the sanctions system will expand and develop. Workarounds will be identified and closed," Robert Severin, a representative of the Ministry of Economy, said at a press conference of the Cabinet of Ministers. At the same time, German Cabinet spokesman Wolfgang Buchner said that "the government considers the sanctions regime against Russia to be very effective."

Earlier in December, the EU Council approved a new package of sanctions against Russia, the 12th in a row. According to the document, a ban on the direct or indirect import, purchase or transfer of diamonds from Russia is being introduced. The restrictions also affected dual-use products and technologies, in particular lithium batteries and UAV components. A ban has been imposed on imports of liquefied propane, copper and aluminum wire from the Russian Federation.

The Russian Federation has repeatedly stated that the country will cope with the sanctions pressure that the West began to exert on Russia several years ago and continues to strengthen. Moscow noted that the West does not have the courage to admit the failure of sanctions against the Russian Federation. There have been opinions in Western countries themselves that anti-Russian sanctions are ineffective. Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously stated that the policy of containing and weakening Russia is a long-term strategy of the West, and sanctions have dealt a serious blow to the entire global economy. According to him, the main goal of the West is to worsen the lives of millions of people.