MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. Sanctions against Russia are the price the country has to pay for its independence and sovereignty, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the Iranian state-run broadcaster.

In a fragment of the interview shown on the Rossiya-24 television on Monday, Peskov said Moscow, just like Tehran, had got used to sanctions, with "thousands" of those imposed since the Soviet era.

"That is perhaps the price both this country and Iran have to pay for their independence and sovereignty. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger," the presidential spokesman emphasized.

In his interview with Iranian reporters ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Tehran, the Kremlin spokesman noted that Iran had been under sanctions for several decades now and "is well adapted to the business of progressing and improving the nation’s welfare despite the restrictions" which he said were absolutely unlawful in terms of international law.