VIENNA, November 27. /TASS/. Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said sanctions against Russia over the crisis in Ukraine are “a wrong way.”
“Both sides’ economies are affected,” Djukanovic told the Austrian news agency APA despite the fact that his country joined the European sanctions against Russia. “Both sides should make all possible efforts to overcome problems.”
Asked about Montenegro’s effort to join NATO, which does not satisfy Russia, Djukanovic said that “despite the traditional friendship with Russia, Montenegro has the right to build its own policy.”
“We want to continue the course,” he said.
Western sanctions against Russia
The West, inspired by the United States, subjected Russian officials and companies to the first batch of sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes, after Russia incorporated Crimea in mid-March after a coup in Ukraine in February.
New, sectoral, penalties against Russia were announced in late July over Moscow’s position on Ukrainian events, in particular, what the West claimed was Russia’s alleged involvement in hostilities in Ukraine’s embattled southeast.
Russia responded with imposing on August 6 a one-year ban on imports of beef, pork, poultry, fish, cheeses, fruit, vegetables and dairy products from Australia, Canada, the European Union, the United States and Norway.
The list of products whose imports Russia banned as part of its response to Western nations includes cattle meat (fresh, chilled and refrigerated), pork (fresh, chilled and refrigerated), poultry meat and all poultry edible by-products, salted meat, pickled meat, dried meat, smoked meat, fish, clams and other water invertebrates, milk and dairy products, vegetables, edible roots and tuber crops.
The list also contains fruit and nuts, sausage and analogous meat products, meat by-products or blood, as well as products made of them, ready-to-eat products including cheeses and cottage-cheese based on vegetable fats.
Moscow has repeatedly dismissed Western allegations that it could in any way be involved in hostilities in the south-east of Ukraine.