Sanctions Against Russia Will Remain Forever — Diplomat

Sanctions against Russia have been enshrined in the legal acts of Western states and will last forever, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin told the parliamentary hearings in the State Duma (lower house) on Monday, TASS reports.

"The sanctions regime has always been in place. And it will remain so forever, let us be realistic. Sanctions have been enshrined in many legal acts, in the US and other states, and it is impossible to roll them back," the diplomat stated.

"All of them are illegitimate, they were slapped under very shaky pretexts, without any proof, but those facts, which are deemed as committed, cannot be rolled back," Pankin noted.

The diplomat stressed that Russia would not ask anyone to lift sanctions and would not say sorry for what it is not doing. "It’s clear that we won’t give up Crimea. If Crimea is part of Russia, we will always be under sanctions like there were sanctions against the Baltic Region until it separated and became three different states. This is a tough idea, but we need to be realistic," he noted.

Pankin also mentioned that "Russia has prepared a set of additional measures to be employed in case of new anti-Russian sanctions".

"When we are talking about action against [anti-Russian restrictions], we should at the same time also think about being ready for new sanctions. Of course, we have a list of additional measures kept on the shelve, that will be put into action at the time and under the conditions when it will be deemed necessary," the senior diplomat added.