Trade barriers have ceased to be an exceptional measure, stated Igor Sechin, Executive Secretary of the Commission under the President of the Russian Federation for Strategic Development of the Fuel and Energy Sector and Environmental Security, at the Energy Panel during the XXIX St. Petersburg Economic Forum.

He reported that according to experts' estimates, by October of last year, the volume of global commodity imports subject to various restrictions reached almost three trillion dollars. "In 12 months, there was more than a fourfold increase. I am confident that today this figure is even higher," noted Sechin during his presentation of the report "The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning: What’s left at the Bottom of Pandora's Box."

According to him, sanctions pressure has become the norm. "Over the past 12 years, 32 thousand sanctions have been introduced against Russia alone. The leadership belongs to the USA: this country has introduced more than 7,400 restrictions, followed by Canada, Switzerland, the European Union, Norway, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and Japan. In total, more than 50 countries," he pointed out.

The Secretary of the Fuel and Energy Complex Commission recalled that sanctions are an instrument of coercion to achieve set goals, including to gain advantages in unfair competition. "Thus, Russian foreign exchange reserves amounting to more than three hundred billion dollars were effectively confiscated and are being used today to finance military actions against us," stated Igor Sechin.

Sechin recalled that back in 2007, in his famous Munich speech, the President of Russia warned: "Individual norms, yes, in essence, almost the entire legal system of one state, primarily, of course, the United States, has overstepped its national borders in all spheres: in the economy, in politics, and in the humanitarian sphere, and is being imposed on other states."

The Secretary of the Fuel and Energy Complex Commission compared the formation by previous generations of the global energy system, with the entire totality of its connections that form the basis of the global economy, starting from firewood, peat, coal, steam engines, and Edison's light bulb, to the gift that Prometheus gave to humanity. "But the sacrifices made by Prometheus may turn out to be in vain. Into the bright future of global energy, as we said earlier, not everyone will be taken," said Sechin.

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June 6, 2026