VLADIVOSTOK, November 14. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an exclusive interview with TASS that he hopes the initiators of anti-Russian sanctions will realize that they are harmful to international economic relations and the issue will remain in the past.
“This is harmful and, of course, it does certain damage to us, but it is also harmful for the United States as well, because as a matter of fact, the entire system of international economic relations is being undermined,” Putin said ahead of the G20 summit in the Australian city of Brisbane.
“I do hope, and I proceed from the understanding that in the final count, the awareness of this will prevail and bygones will be bygones,” he said.
Putin said the sanctions against Russia “run counter to the very principle of G20 activities, and not only the activities of the G20 and its principles, they run counter to international law, because sanctions may be introduced only through the United Nations and its Security Council.”
“Moreover, they are against the principles of the WTO (World Trade Organization) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the GATT. The United States itself created that organization at a certain point. Now it is crudely violating its principles,” he said.
Putin said that he will not raise the question of anti-Russian sanctions at the upcoming G20 summit. “If this theme is mentioned, I shall speak on the subject, of course, but I am not going to propose these questions for discussion myself. The way I see it, it will be useless,” Putin said.
“Everyone understands what they are doing — those who impose the sanctions. What’s the use of drawing attention to this matter or asking for something? It’ll make no sense,” he said.
“Regrettably, the modern world exists within a very narrow horizon of planning, in particular, that in the sphere of politics and security. Everybody lives from election to election. This is a very narrow planning horizon,” Putin said.
“It leaves no opportunities for taking a broader perspective, for looking into a more distant future. That’s bad. But I hope that we shall discuss this,” he said.
“At the just-ended APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit there were discussions with practically those who were in attendance over international problems and over bilateral problems, including the problems of sanctions,” the Russian president said.