© RIA Novosti/Alexei DruzhininRussian President Vladimir Putin
The latest list of sanctions looks "quite odd" in view of the peace drive including a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said as the EU's restricting measures came into force Friday.
Speaking after a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Putin said that
Russia has not ruled out responding with tit-for-tat sanctions. At the same time, he said, those measures would only be implemented if they did not harm Russia, and if they would help protect the country.
"The government is thinking about that. But if they are to be imposed,
this will be to create better conditions for ourselves," Putin said.
As for trade partnerships and cooperation in sectors targeted by the EU sanctions, Putin said that "there is always an alternative" in case somebody "does not want to work with Russia."
"There are some things that are negative, but if we consider the problem in its totality, there is more positive than negative," Putin said, adding that
sanctions open up opportunities for Russia's manufacturers.
Putin has criticized attempts to "destabilize" the situation in Ukraine rather than solve it. Putting the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Igor Plotnitsky, on the list of people sanctioned may jeopardize the peace talks in Ukraine, Putin said.
Comment: Hoping for the "political leadership" to change anything is wishful thinking. The only way anything can change is for each individual to understand the pathocracy infecting our world so we can change our mindset and rediscover our humanity.