MOSCOW, January 13. /TASS/. Anatoly Chubais, CEO of Russia’s state nanotechnology corporation Rosnano, said on Friday he thinks it highly improbable that anti-Russians sanctions and Russia’s counter-sanctions could be lifted in 2017.

"It looks like I have turned from a former young reformer into an old conservative. But I am not very optimistic about it. I see no real chances for the sanctions abandonment, say, in 2017," he told journalists when asked whether the United States and the European Union are likely to lift anti-Russian sanctions to be followed by Russia’s abandoning of its counter-sanctions.

According to Chubais, he was surprised at positive views on that matter voiced at the Gaidar Forum. "A number of participants in the forum, including government members, spoke about it in positive terms," he said. "Maybe, I am wrong. I hope it could be that way."

Earlier in the day, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said he doesn’t rule out that Russia would not extend its counter-sanctions after December 31 is case relations with the West improve. Russia has always been ready for an open dialogue as far as other countries are, he stressed.

"It seems that time has come to see that the [Western] sanctions will soon be abandoned, and the counter-sanctions will be dropped too," he said.