GThe head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Moscow will not ask the United States to lift sanctions, since the entire limit of requests “was chosen by our neighboring Ukraine.” “[She] keeps asking and asking — and, in my opinion, she has not understood anything, ” Lavrov believes
Sergey Lavrov
Russia will never ask the United States to lift sanctions against Moscow, since Ukraine has spent the entire limit of requests to Washington. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov following a trip to the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, which was held in New York.
Commenting on reports about “Russia’s interference” in the American elections, Lavrov stressed that Washington made statements about Moscow’s role “without understanding”. “These are American manners, we are used to them. We will never ask for the sanctions to be lifted. With requests, our neighboring Ukraine chose the entire limit, which keeps asking and asking & mdash; and, in my opinion, did not understand anything of what was happening. And we will not do this, ” the minister said.
Reacting to the words of Turkish President Recep Erdogan that Ankara does not recognize the entry of Crimea into Russia and the holding of parliamentary elections on the peninsula (as the Turkish leader said, speaking at the general political debate of the UN General Assembly session), Lavrov called such statements an attempt to distract attention from Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements and “diplomatic unprofessionalism”.
The Foreign Minister noted that five years ago, when there were elections to the State Duma of the previous convocation, no one made such statements. “At least, they have never sounded so loud,” he added.
Over the past seven years, the United States has repeatedly imposed sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities, including under the Magnitsky Act and because of the annexation of Crimea to Russia.
On September 23, the US House of Representatives approved a draft defense budget of about $780 billion. It provides for sanctions on the secondary market of Russian debt securities and new restrictions against the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline. It also includes an amendment that recommends that the administration of US President Joe Biden consider imposing sanctions on 35 Russians, including officials, large businessmen and journalists.
The press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, called the draft of new US sanctions “internal parliamentary exercises”. He noted that the amendments on sanctions have a very long way to go before they become law and are activated. The Russian Foreign Ministry, in turn, warned Washington against a “rash step on the sanctions track,” and the Federation Council promised to respond to the restrictions.
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