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Western sanctions inevitable, should make Russia stronger - deputy PM

“We need to go through it with dignity emerging stronger than we are now,” Rogozin wrote on Twitter

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. Western sanctions imposed on Russia for the crisis in Ukraine are an inevitable and predictable stage of restoration for the Russian power, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Twitter.

“We need to go through it with dignity emerging stronger than we are now,” Rogozin wrote in the microblog.

Russian officials and companies came under the first batch of Western sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes, after Russia incorporated Crimea in mid-March after a coup in Ukraine in February.

The West announced new sectoral penalties against Russia 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.

The European Union’s package of anti-Russian economic sanctions, in force since July 31, consists of three components: restrictions of access to loans for five Russian banks, a ban on deliveries to Russia of dual-use equipment, first of all electronic, and a ban on providing Russia with new technology and selling it high-tech equipment for the oil sector.

In response, Russia imposed 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.

Moscow has repeatedly dismissed Western allegations that it could in any way be involved in hostilities in the southeast of Ukraine.

On September 12, Brussels banned organization of debt financing for Russia’s three largest defense firms Uralvagonzavod, Oboronprom and United Aircraft Corporation, as well as three fuel and energy companies Rosneft, Transneft and Gazprom Neft.

Besides, the EU imposed numerous bans on imports of goods from Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol to the EU.

The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russians, refused to recognize the legitimacy of authorities brought to power amid riots during a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.

Crimea and Sevastopol adopted declarations of independence on March 11. They held a referendum on March 16, in which 96.77% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the reunification deals March 18.

Despite Moscow’s repeated statements that the Crimean referendum on secession from Ukraine was in line with the international law and the UN Charter and in conformity with the precedent set by Kosovo’s secession from Serbia in 2008, the West and Kiev have refused to recognize the legality of Crimea’s reunification with Russia.

In the Soviet Union, Crimea used to be part of Russia until 1954, when Nikita Khrushchev, the first secretary of the USSR’s Communist Party, transferred it to Ukraine's jurisdiction as a gift.