MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. Russia’s retaliatory sanctions against the West are totally legitimate, because they are a means of protection against aggressive activities by other countries, the director of Russia’s foreign intelligence service SVR, Sergey Naryshkin, said in an interview to the daily Moskovsky Komsomolets.

"The retaliatory sanctions are a means of protection from aggressive activities by other countries. They are fully legitimate, because they correspond to the basic principles of the UN Charter," he said.

About the Western countries’ sanction policies against Russia, China, Venezuela and other states Naryshkin said that "they can be interpreted in no way other than a weapon of geopolitical struggle."

"These so-called sanctions are in fact acts of economic aggression. Their aim is to achieve changes in the policies of other countries to their benefit, to cause economic damage, to restrict socio-economic development, to inconspicuously create competitive edges for their own economies and economic entities," he concluded.