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US wants to oust Russia from European markets through sanctions, speaker says

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the issue concerns trade wars that the US is in both against Russia and China

Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin Sergei Savostianov/TASS

Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin

© Sergei Savostianov/TASS

ST. PETERSBURG, June 7. /TASS/. The US is introducing sanctions against Russia not because of Crimea’s reunion with it but aiming to oust Russia from European markets, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said in an interview with TV program "60 Minutes" broadcast on Rossiya-1 on Friday.

"Sanctions would have been introduced in any way. As soon as Russia started developing, as soon as it became strong, it was inevitable," the speaker said, adding that Russia should overcome these challenges. He pointed to the fact that the stagnation of economy that was triggered several years ago "is in the past." "We will be able to go through this situation and we will be able to preserve the fulfilment of obligations to our citizens," he affirmed.

"The United States is not satisfied with the fact that we have a vast trade turnover with Europe that amounts to tens of billions of dollars. The US introduced these sanctions to oust us from Europe; moreover, it is trying to intimidate our European partners," Volodin said. "The reason is not that Crimea is now part of Russia. It was just a pretext, not a reason," he added.

The issue concerns trade wars that the US is in both against Russia and China, Volodin said.

The State Duma speaker affirmed that "[Russia] is in dialogue all the way around, both with the United States and Europe." "And, of course, we are in dialogue with the countries that found themselves in this situation with us," he said, naming China, Iran and Turkey among such states.

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