MOSCOW, July 7. /TASS/. The vote in the Cyprus Parliament on a resolution in support of lifting the European Union’s sanctions against Russia testifies to the growing understanding that the restrictive measures have negative influence, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

"It is noteworthy that none of the deputies spoke against," the ministry said in a statement.

"Certainly the provisions of that document are of a recommending nature. But such outcome of the vote reflects the urge of the overwhelming part of the Cypriot people to restore the mutually beneficial trade and economic ties with Russia," the statement said.

"The resolution adopted by Cypriot parliamentarians, just like similar resolutions approved in France by the National Assembly on April 28 and Senate on June 8, as well as regional parliaments of four Italian regions testify to the growing understanding in EU member countries of the real state of affairs around anti-Russian sanctions and their negative consequences for national economies and European security on the whole," it said.

The Cyprus Parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution on lifting anti-Russian sanctions earlier imposed by the EU. A total of 33 deputies supported the document submitted by members of Cyprus’ Progressive Party of Working People; 17 abstained from voting.

The chairman of the international affairs committee of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, Alexey Pushkov said that today’s resolution by the Cyprus Parliament against anti-Russian sanctions will be followed by new such documents in other legislatures of the European Union countries, as the talk is about a stable tendency based on public opinion and political circles.

"I am absolutely convinced that such resolutions will emerge in other national parliaments as well. The French resolution gave it a start, Italian regional parliaments continued, and as of today, Cyprus is adopting such a resolution on the national level," Pushkov told TASS.

He said "other resolutions will follow as the policy of sanctions has exhausted itself both economically and financially."

"Forces in the EU who believe they will force Russia to change its policy by sanctions pressure are sticking to it," Pushkov said.

"It is becoming clear in Europe that pressure is not a method to use to talk to Russia," he said.

Pushkov said a French research center published data on the EU’s losses as a result of sanctions. "The losses total $60.2 billion. Most losses are attributed to Germany, Poland, Holland and France," he said. "The countries that lose also include Cyprus, Italy, Greece and Spain."

Pushkov said the EU’s sanctions policy will by the end of the year be subjected to a serious revision.

"I have no doubts that 2017 will become the last year of sanctions, at least in their current form," he said.

Sanctions

For incorporation of Crimea after last year’s coup in Ukraine, Russia came under sanctions on the part of the United States and many European countries. The restrictive measures were soon intensified following Western and Ukrainian claims that Russia supported militias in self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine’s southeast and was involved in destabilization of Ukraine.

As countermeasures, Russia imposed on August 6, 2014 a one-year ban on imports of beef, pork, poultry, fish, cheeses, fruit, vegetables and dairy products from Australia, Canada, the European Union, the United States and Norway.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly denied accusations of "annexing" Crimea, because Crimea reunified with Russia voluntarily after a referendum.

A system of import substitution had to be introduced in Russia in connection with imposition of Western sanctions on Russia for developments in Ukraine and Moscow’s countersanctions.