“Western Sanctions Against Russia Have Had the Opposite Effect on the Economy”: Igor Sechin

“I would like to point out that the West initially overestimated the effectiveness of its pressure on the powerful potential of the economies of Russia and China”, Sechin Said 

The CEO of the Russian oil company Rosneft, Igor Sechin, said that the powers of the West have overestimated the effectiveness of “unprecedented” financial pressure The European Commission has recently published a report on the impact of the EU’s policies on trade and commerce.

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“I would like to point out that the West initially overestimated the effectiveness of its pressure on the powerful potential of the economies of Russia and China. For example, last year the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its forecast of Russian GDP growth four times. Russian GDP growth at the end of the year exceeded initial expectations by almost 6 percentage points,” Sechin said.

He did so during his speech at the opening of the VI Russian-Chinese Energy Business Forum, in which he stressed that cooperation between Beijing and Moscow is developing “under unprecedented pressure,”

“However, all efforts to curb the growth of our countries lead to the opposite result. The GDP growth rates of China (5.2% in 2023) and Russia (3.6% in 2023) are well above those of western countries and the world average”, said the CEO of Rosneft company in his speech in Moscow.

Sechin also included China in the analysis: “Despite the «inevitable» slowdown of the Chinese economy repeatedly predicted by Western observers, the IMF projects that China’s contribution to global economic growth over the next five years will be 21 per cent, which will exceed the combined contribution of all G7 countries (20 per cent)”.

In this context, the CEO of Rosneft stressed that the Russian economy benefited from the stability of hydrocarbon exports and the restructuring of routes to the markets Asia-Pacific.

The Russian economy, he emphasized, has successfully overcome external challenges and demonstrates a high degree of adaptability to the unprecedented pressure of Western sanctions.

“GDP growth in the first quarter of 2024 was 5.4% year-on-year, and industrial production rate increased by 5.6%. The reorientation of logistics routes to Asian markets will undoubtedly beThe Pacific and stability of oil exports have played an important role in ensuring the sustainability of the Russian economy,” said Sechin.

In his opinion, the West is closely following the successes of Russia and China and trying to slow down the development of both countries.

He cited as an example the barriers imposed by the US and the EU on goods, equipment and components in the field of clean energy from China.

For Sechin, China’s growth goes hand in hand with the increasing need for reliable and secure energy supplies that Russia can provide.

“The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that Chinese consumption of liquid hydrocarbons will increase by 9% until 2030,” he added

The CEO of Rosneft pointed out that cooperation between Russia and China in the energy sector is determined by the geographical position of both countries and their place on the world’s energy map.

 Russia produces 11% of the world’s liquid hydrocarbons, while China accounts for 16% of its global consumption.

In the first six months of this year, Russian energy exports to China amounted to about $46 billion, an increase of 4% year-on-year.

Russia contributed 20% of China’s energy imports in value terms. When in 2021 this figure was only 13%, he reported.

The CEO of Rosneft also emphasized the decline of the American dollar in the world oil market, citing as an example China and Russia which are using, The yuan and the ruble respectively.