Kremlin shrugs off EU plans to speed up phase-out of Russia’s energy

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MOSCOW (Reuters) -The European Union’s plans to phase out Russian energy and commodities more quickly will not affect Russia and will not force it to change its position, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

The head of the EU’s executive, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Tuesday after a call with U.S. President Donald Trump that the European Commission would propose a faster phase-out of Russian fossil fuel imports. 

“They (European countries) mistakenly believe that the continuation of the sanctions policy is capable of somehow influencing the position of the Russian Federation,” Peskov told a daily conference call with reporters.

“Russia, which defends its national interests, is certainly not affected by these sanctions. And the last three years have eloquently demonstrated this,” he added.

Russia’s economy has shown resilience in the face of sanctions imposed by the West over the conflict in Ukraine, though it is also grappling with persistently high inflation and a rising budget deficit partly as a result of sharply increased military spending.

Despite the sanctions, the EU still imports billions of euros worth of Russian energy and commodities, ranging from liquefied natural gas to enriched uranium, though its imports of Russian oil and gas have plummeted.

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov. Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin. Editing by Mark Potter and Gareth Jones)