MOSCOW, April 14. /TASS/. Russia will not ask the European Union to withdraw the 2014 sanctions amid the coronavirus pandemic, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an online interview Tuesday.

"Should the European Union realize that the [sanctions] method has exhausted itself and withdraw its decisions made in 2014, then we will, of course, be ready to reciprocate. But we are not going to ask [to withdraw sanctions]," the top diplomat said.

According to the Lavrov, after the Western partners failed Moscow and denied their responsibilities on many issues, Russia chose a path that ensures "reliance on Russia’s own resources during any possible changes of mind" of the Western colleagues.

"This does not mean isolation in any way: we are always open for comprehensive and mutually beneficial cooperation," Lavrov said. "However, considering the West’s actions in 2014, we simply have to insure ourselves from repetition of similar incidents."

Speaking about the Ukrainian events of 2014, the Foreign Minister underscored that it is Russia who should feel insulted by the West, represented by France, Germany, Poland and the US, who "energetically promoted the deal between [former Ukrainian President] Viktor Yanukovich and the [Ukrainian] opposition."

"When the deal was thrown out of the window the next morning, our Western colleagues shrugged and said ‘Democracy prevailed’," the minister said. "We see this democracy in action every day now, as torchlight parades with flags of the [Third Reich’s] SS divisions, with flags of extremist organizations, also outlawed in the West."

"We wholeheartedly oppose sanctions taken in circumvention of the United Nations Charter. But we will not condition our relations with the EU on their withdrawal at any cost. We will patiently concentrate on productive actions, on our internal agenda and on development of relations with those who are ready for them without preconditions. There are a plenty of such nations in the European Union, by the way," Lavrov said.

Sanctions amid pandemic are 'immoral'

Unilateral sanctions amid the pandemic are immoral, their inadmissibility must be enshrined in an international agreement, Lavrov said.

"Unilateral sanctions are illegitimate in themselves, while those sanctions, which reduce the ability to fight the pandemic under the current circumstances and which were imposed bypassing the UN Security Council, are absolutely immoral and inhuman," he stressed. "It is important to make sure that the inadmissibility of unilateral sanctions, especially sanctions that affect ordinary people’s humanitarian interests, is enshrined in an international agreement."

Russia’s top diplomat recalled that the first resolution on the principles of the fight against coronavirus had been approved at the UN General Assembly’s session and expressed the hope that another resolution would follow. In addition, the Security Council cannot overlook the issue of unilateral sanctions imposed bypassing it, he noted.

"For many years, long before the current situation emerged, Russia, along with a number of other countries, has upheld the concept of the humanitarian limit of sanctions," Lavrov went on to say. "Our Western counterparts <…> always say that sanctions are directed not against people but against regimes, as they put it, to encourage these regimes to change their behavior. Nothing of the kind."

In this regard, he drew attention to the impact of sanctions in Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Syria and other countries. "This is direct damage to the plight of ordinary people," he stressed. "That’s why the issue of illegitimate sanctions, the inadmissibility to violate some humanitarian criteria will always be relevant. It will be even more relevant after we get out of this crisis situation."