Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin
© RIA NovostiDeputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin
Russia's Dmitry Rogozin believes western sanctions are forever. Henceforth Russia and the west will always be at odds. Russia will continue to insist on its own path in internal development and external affairs and the west will never stop penalizing it for it.

Speaking at a conference on development of the arctic he explained:
"All the time we have to read reports that the EU and the U.S. are considering to lift sanctions and then they suddenly automatically extend them. I think we should lose interest in it."

"We should stop taking care of what they say about the sanctions in Brussels or Washington. It should be kept in mind that sanctions now will always be against us."
"Russia needs to be strong and not to bend under the pressure." In this context, Deputy Prime Minister recalled the previous statements of the President of Russia.

"While President Putin set the task solely to create the material basis of national identity, freedom, and independence of the country in its foreign affairs, it will always be accompanied by a resistance of the leading global powers against Russia."
I.e. rather than hope in vain for the west to lift the sanctions Russian planners should take them into account and plan around them.

If west hoped that sanctions would force Russia to cry uncle it's not happening. Russians are learning to think of sanctions as just another fact of life. Death, taxes, and the Russian winter. What's a little sanctions compared to that?