Russia not planning to beg West for lifting sanctions - Lavrov

MINSK, November 18. /TASS/. Russia has no plans to implore the West to lift its unilateral sanctions imposed on Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday. “Russia is not going to beg the West to lift unilateral sanctions,” the Russian minister said. “Sanctions are not our choice,” he stressed. Moscow sometimes receives particular proposals: “let’s agree on certain criteria and we will tell you what you need to do, and then we will lift sanctions,” Lavrov said. “We will not be playing such games,” the diplomat said. Meanwhile, Lavrov said the West has started speaking on the need to revise the restrictive measures. Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated amid the Ukrainian crisis, as the US and the EU imposed economic sanctions against Russia, and Moscow responded with a ban on food imports from countries that sanctioned it. The West accuses Russia of aiding militias in eastern Ukraine, while Moscow has repeatedly denied the claims condemning Kiev’s operation as war against Ukraine’s own people. Russian presidential advisor Sergey Glazyev said last week the European Union member states could lose up to 1 trillion euros ($1.2 trillion) if Brussels continues pursuing the sanctions policy against Russia. Russia’s EU envoy Vladimir Chizhov told TASS last week that the sanctions are ineffective and far-fetched and the 28-member bloc has nearly exhausted its sanctions potential. Read more