MOSCOW, September 28 (RIA Novosti) – Russia does not feel isolated in light of sanctions and does plan to refuse to cooperate with the West, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview to Channel 5.
“We definitely do not feel isolated in any way, but, having said that, I would like to emphasize that we do not want to go to extremes and abandon the European and American vector of our external economic cooperation and, generally, global collaboration,” Lavrov said.
The minister noted that he was talking about “the countries, cooperating with which is mutually beneficial, since they also get positive results from working with Russia.”
Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated as the European Union and the United States continued accusing Russia for its alleged involvement in Ukrainian crisis, a claim Moscow has repeatedly denied.
In late July, the European Union and the United States have broadened sanctions, which previously targeted certain individuals and companies to measures against entire sectors of the Russian economy. On September 12, the West released a fresh batch of sanctions targeting Russia's largest banks, oil and defense companies, as well as certain individuals. The companies were denied access to the European capital markets, while a number of individuals were subject to entry bans and asset freezes.
In August, Russia has been forced to respond to Western sanctions with a ban on certain food imports from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that using sanctions as an instrument of foreign policy is not effective and never yields any results.
