MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on Western countries to abandon unfair competition practices such as sanctions.
Responding to a question from a journalist from Iceland, who stated the negative impact of anti-Russian sanctions on his country's economy, Lavrov explained why Russia decided to use counter sanctions in relation to European agricultural products.
This was due to the fact that Russian banks that lend to the agro-industrial complex of the country fell under Western sanctions. That is why Russian farmers found themselves in discriminatory conditions in terms of the possibility of attracting funding for their production.
"The solution is simple - we should abandon these methods of conducting international affairs, although they are now becoming more and more popular in the West, especially in the U.S. But there is only one way out - we should abandon attempts to dictate, attempts of using unfair competition through sanctions or otherwise." the minister said during his press conference on the results of 2018.
Lavrov added that "those who began to use such methods first must take the first step."
"We often hear they say, well, we started it, but you should help us, we want to lift these sanctions, and Russia should do something, <...> give us some reason so that we can show that you have listened and did something useful for the West," Lavrov said.
"This is not a constructive way of doing business. It’s better to act honestly, if some things were done and now the majority admits that it was wrong, then these things should be eliminated. We will return the love, do not doubt, it will happen very fast," the Russian Foreign Minister assured.