"I believe that it is unlikely that the president-elect, having taken office, will immediately lift these sanctions. Especially since he actually insisted on a number of sanctions at a certain time, in any case, trying to limit our gas supplies to Europe," Medvedev said in an interview with the Al Arabiya TV channel.
He recalled Trump's words about the need to supply Europe with liquefied natural gas from the US.
"Which is what is happening now. And there is no Russian gas in Europe. That is why the Europeans are freezing, and their production is stopping. In a certain sense, ending sanctions is not in the interest of a number of sectors of the American economy. What considerations he [Trump] will be guided by, I do not know. But this really needs to be done simply in order to restore normal economic cooperation," Medvedev said.
The West stepped up sanctions pressure on Russia after the start of Moscow's military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the policy of containing and weakening Russia is the West's long-term strategy, and the restrictions have affected the entire global economy. According to him, the main goal of the West is to make the lives of millions of people worse. Russia has said it can cope with any sanctions pressure.