© Sputnik / Ramil Sitdikov
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia will decide on lifting food embargo, which bans imports from countries that imposed sanctions on Moscow, taking into account both the European Union's actions and Russia's national interests.
Russia will decide on lifting food embargo, which bans imports from countries that imposed sanctions on Moscow, taking into account both the European Union's actions and Russia's national interests, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday.
"We will make these decisions, if you will forgive me my pompous expression, going by our national interests," Medvedev told a Russian television channel.
The prime minister added that Moscow introduced the embargo in response to the Western sanctions and will wait for the EU member states to make the first move.
"Then, in August, since the retaliatory restrictive measures were introduced for one year, we will make decisions on whether we will keep them, change them partially or abandon them altogether," Medvedev said.
Last year, the United States, the European Union and a number of their allies imposed several rounds of economic sanctions on Russia over its alleged role in the Ukrainian crisis, a claim denied by Moscow.
The sanctions gave Russia an opportunity to redefine its economy into more independent and self-sufficient. I believe many "local" producers are more than happy with the sanctions because they work in favor of protection and encouragement of Russian inner market. What could seem like a disadvantage for moment, turns into its opposite. "Nemo turpitudinem suam allegare potest" ... nobody can profit from his own unfair behavior worked here almost as vis maior. The irrational sanctions backfired and so long the European exporters can now only keep gnashing teeth and wait for restoration of the previous cooperative "mode".