Russian Honorary Consul In Iceland Says EU Sanctions More Harmful To Reykjavik Than Moscow

Russian Honorary Consul in Iceland Says EU Sanctions More Harmful to Reykjavik Than Moscow

EU sanctions against Moscow, to which Reykjavik is a party, are more harmful to Icelandic business than they are to Russian companies, Russia's Honorary Consul in Iceland Olafur Agust Andresson told Sputnik.

REYKJAVIK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st August, 2018) EU sanctions against Moscow, to which Reykjavik is a party, are more harmful to Icelandic business than they are to Russian companies, Russia's Honorary Consul in Iceland Olafur Agust Andresson told Sputnik.

"I am not happy with how Icelandic authorities are behaving on this. My opinion is that Iceland stay far away from these sanctions, without supporting either the EU or Russia ... I think this is hurting Iceland more than it is Russia. We see this now after several years of sanctions. We cannot sell our fish to Russia, we cannot do business as we used to," Andresson said.

Relations between Russia and the West deteriorated after 2014, when the Ukrainian crisis erupted and Crimea decided to rejoin Russia after holding a referendum. Moscow has insisted that Crimea's referendum was held in line with international standards, but Western states have refused to recognize the vote.

In 2014-2015, Iceland joined the European Union's sanctions against Russia. In response, Moscow expanded its retaliatory measures in 2015 to include Reykjavik. As a result, trade between countries fell from $267 million in 2014 to $33 million in 2016, mainly due to a steep fall in Iceland's herring sales to Russia.