YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, September 23 (RIA Novosti) - Western economic sanctions over Moscow's alleged role in the Ukrainian crisis will not affect Russia's plans to increase the throughput of the pipeline East Siberia – Pacific Ocean to 80 million tonnes of oil per year by 2020, in order to increase the shipments of Russian oil to China, Deputy Minister of Energy Kirill Molodtsov said on Tuesday.
"Russian Federation sees no risks or threats for these projects not to be implemented as scheduled," said Molodtsov at the Sakhalin Oil and Gas conference in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
"We have the resources and raw materials needed and we have the capacity to increase the overall production," Molodtsov said, adding that funds to fulfill this goal have already been mobilized.
Earlier on Tuesday, speaking at the same conference, the governor of the Sakhalin Region Alexander Khoroshavin also said that the western economic sanctions do not pose any serious threat to the energy projects implemented in Sakhalin.
Khoroshavin has noted that the countries of the Asia-Pacific region are pragmatic when it comes to the economy and are not prone to making decisions that may harm their interests.
The United States and European Union have introduced several rounds of economic sanctions against Moscow over its alleged role in the Ukrainian conflict. The latest round of restrictions, which came into effect on September 12, targeted the Russian banking, energy and defense sectors. Russian officials have repeatedly referred to the western sanctions as counterproductive.
