MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. Russia's foreign trade with countries that have not taken unfriendly actions against it has grown by up to 32% in a number of positions, Dmitry Birichevsky, head of the department of economic cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told a briefing on Tuesday.

"In general, we have an absolute plus in trade turnover with friendly countries," he noted.

"With neutral countries that have not taken unfriendly actions against Russia, we have growth in foreign trade in some positions of up to 32%."

The diplomat drew attention to the fact that imports from Europe and other Western countries "sank," and this "generally affects the overall statistics."

"But trends, first of all, in exports to friendly countries show that we will reach new records with each of these countries, we will adapt and reorient to those markets where we are not threatened with sanctions," he said.

Touching further on the topic of sanctions, Birichevsky stressed that Russia understands the reluctance of its Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) partners to be subject to restrictions and that the Russian side "in no way wants to subject them to such restrictions."

"At the same time, sanctions have a positive effect, since they allow us to escape dependence on those countries that kept us on the hook," he concluded.

"We need to treat sanctions with caution, but at the same time not forget about our benefit. Since we have been disconnected from SWIFT, they (the initiators of the sanctions - TASS) do not see all of our trade, and there are mechanisms that allow us to bypass these sanctions, to hide from our ill-wishers what we are really doing," he said.