EU Should Admit Futility Of Trying To Punish Russia With Sanctions - Lavrov

Faizan Hashmi Published August 17, 2021 | 07:16 PM

It is time for the European Union to recognize that its sanctions do not serve any purpose, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday

KALININGRAD (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th August, 2021) It is time for the European Union to recognize that its sanctions do not serve any purpose, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

In July, the bloc extended its sanctions targeting certain areas of Russia's economy until January 31, 2022.

"In my view, they should have realized long ago that it will not be a one-way street, and that sanctions will not have any effect, and that we will have to respond to any hostile steps in accordance with the reciprocity principle," Lavrov said at the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University in the Russian city of Kaliningrad.

The relations between Moscow and the EU deteriorated in 2014 following unrest in Ukraine and Crimea's reunification with Russia. Moscow has been under Western sanctions ever since. The Russian government has responded reciprocally and consistently expressed the view that imposing sanctions is not a productive approach to international relations.