BRUSSELS - European Union sanctions against Russia are working well, a top European Commissioner said on Tuesday, dismissing as Russian propaganda criticism that EU measures were ineffective and had little impact.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban criticised EU sanctions on Sept. 26, saying they had backfired. Some politicians from right-wing parties in France or Italy have expressed similar sentiment.

But EU Commissioner for Financial Stability Mairead McGuinness dismissed such views as influenced by well-prepared Russian propaganda.

"No country can survive economically, or from a development point of view, if it is cut off from the global financial system, if its foreign reserves are frozen, if it is not getting the technology, if it cannot import all it needs for its manufacturing industry and for its war machine," she said.

Russia "is losing brain power by the thousands," she told a briefing. "So the impacts are severe, but we are aware that Russia is very good at propaganda, clearly, not only internally, but externally," she said.

The EU is working on its eighth package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. The latest measures are set to include steps to enforce a price cap on Russian crude oil sold worldwide.

  - Reuters