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Russian Foreign Ministry says sanctions can't force Russia to abandon its approaches

The ministry urged the EU to work with Kiev pushing it towards "implementation of the Minsk package approved by United Nations Security Council resolution 2202"
Russian Foreign Ministry Gennady Khamelyanin/TASS
Russian Foreign Ministry
© Gennady Khamelyanin/TASS

MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. It is wrong to think that sanctions could force Russia to abandon its approaches in its foreign policy, the Russian foreign ministry said on Monday after the European Union took a decision to extend its anti-Russian sanctions.

"It is obvious that the European Union lacks logic in its behavior trying to ‘punish’ Russia for what is beyond its capacities but what the European Union was behind," the ministry said, commenting on the European Union’s attempts to justify its sanctions by non-fulfilment of the Minsk agreements. "The situation will change if the European Union works with Kiev properly pushing it towards implementation of the Minsk package approved by United Nations Security Council resolution 2202."

"The extension of anti-Russian sanctions in this background looks rather hypocritical. And it would be wrong and short-sighted from the very beginning to think that sanctions can force Russia to abandon its principled approaches. The extension of sanctions means that the European Union is still enchained by its own mistakes," the ministry stressed.