European companies have been investing in the Russian economy in ever-increasing numbers, says Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

According to Dmitriev, EU states played a significant role in driving overall foreign investment into Russia, which has also increased significantly during the year.

"At the start of this year, I forecasted that foreign direct investments [FDI] to Russia would increase by over 50 percent [in 2019]; many raised questions about this figure​​​. Now we see that by the end of this year FDI will grow by around 70 percent. It is a very significant growth," Dmitriev told Sputnik news agency.

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The head of the national wealth fund pointed out that such growth in investment demonstrates that economic sanctions imposed on Russia in 2014 in the aftermath of the Ukrainian conflict are not having their intended effect.

Dmitriev added that EU political leaders cannot prevent European companies from conducting mutually beneficial business.

"Economic sanctions are an outdated instrument which contradicts the logic of the global economy’s development. Nevertheless, the global capital still needs opportunities for investment, and the flow of global capital is impossible to stop."

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The head of RDIF noted that economic sanctions were in fact having a negative impact on the European economy. "Countries of the European Union lost almost $240 billion because of sanctions and are de facto losing the Russian market."

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