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Russia won’t introduce countersanctions ‘to punish itself rather than others’ - Putin

Putin reiterated his position that the sanctions policy is "counterproductive, harmful and never achieves the goal set by those who introduce these sanctions"

BENAULIM, October 16. /TASS/. Moscow has no plans to introduce countersanctions to "punish itself rather than others," Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters.

"We introduced limits on the supplies of agricultural goods (from European countries) on purpose, this is such an asymmetric response," Putin said. "We did it where it was beneficial for us to do it."

Answering a question on the possible sanctions against Moscow over its position on Syria, Putin said: "The goal of these sanctions is not in solving anything but to contain Russia’s strengthening as a full-fledged participant of international activity.""This goal won’t be achieved," he stressed.

Putin reiterated his position that the sanctions policy is "counterproductive, harmful and never achieves the goal set by those who introduce these sanctions."

"As for sanctions against Russia, whatever pretext is cited - either the events in Ukraine or in Syria - the goals of those who formulate this policy do not solve a particular problem," the president stressed. "The goal is to simply formulate the policy of containing Russia," he said. "If there had been no (problem in) Ukraine they would have invented something else."