BUDAPEST, May 25. /TASS/. A number of politicians in the United States and the European Union acknowledge that the Ukrainian crisis is not the only reason for sanctions against Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday after talks with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjartoo.
"We see an absolutely political reason in the sanctions policy of the EU, the US and other countries," Lavrov said. Several politicians said many times that the Ukrainian issue is not the only one reason why these sanctions were introduced, he added.
Lavrov stressed that Russia "has everything needed to overcome the objective difficulties emerging due to the sanctions and to become more self-sufficient and less dependent on the political environment and especially the one linked to the anti-Russian actions of some Western leaders."
Sanctions prolongation
According to Sijjarto, Hungary will not adopt an automatic procedure of prolonging sanctions against Russia.
"Of course, we discussed the question of sanctions," Sijjarto said, "Hungary is interested in the implementation of the Minsk Accords as soon as possible. We invariably address this call to all participants in this conflict, let me emphasize that."
"It goes without saying we will not make a decision in favor of under-the-carpet prolongation. We will not adopt an automatic procedure," he promised. "We would like the discussion to be conducted at the highest political level possible, because it is a very important issue to be addressed by the leaders of the European Union countries."
EU policy
Lavrov said Moscow does not understand the logic of High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini as she places restoration of strategic partnership with Russia in dependence on Kiev’s whims.
"When we discussed Russia’s relations with EU, a topic emerged of Mogherini’s interview with Die Welt newspaper," Lavrov said. "Mogherini was asked whether strategic partnership between Russia and EU remains. She said ‘no’ though I want to note that the agreement on strategic partnership between Russia and EU has not been cancelled yet," he added.
"However, Mogherini said that there is no strategic partnership but Russia remains a strategic country - such wordplay," the foreign minister said. "After that, she was asked whether restoration of strategic partnership is possible. Mogherini answered: ‘it is possible if the Minsk Agreements are fully implemented’. And added: ‘Though not only Russia, but also Ukraine should implement the agreements’," Lavrov reminded.
"It turns out that restoration of strategic partnership between Russia and EU depends on whims, position of official Kiev which making every effort to distort of even torpedo the Minsk Agreements," he added noting that "we cannot accept such logic of the EU representative."