MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/. By introducing sanctions against a number of countries, the US is promoting its own commercial interests, Russia’s Acting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with magazine Russian Business Guide - Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce.
"Today we are witnessing the politicization of economic cooperation. Elements of unfair competition such as disregarding universal rules of international trade and the norms of the WTO (World Trade Organization - TASS), as well as unilateral restrictions and the exterritorial use of domestic legislation are being incrementally used," Lavrov pointed out. "The goal of these actions that are seriously damaging the global economy is to promote commercial self-interests at any cost. The 'Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act’ adopted by the US is specifically pursuing this."
The acting foreign minister reiterated that it is the Americans who are steamrolling their anti-Russian sanctions policy through the economic sphere.
"European businesses have to pay for such actions: producers from other world regions are replacing EU producers on the Russian market," he stated. "The US is not suffering any damage, on the contrary. Washington makes no secret that behind the battle against the Russian threat it seeks to consolidate its companies’ positions, in particular energy and defense firms, in Europe."
Lavrov noted that the situation is increasingly drawing discontent from European business circles.