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Russian lawmakers back Greece’s stance on ‘counter- productive’ sanctions

These are in fact measures of illegal character, speculations and political and economic blackmail, Russian State Duma speaker says, that is why Russia supports Greek position on this issue

MOSCOW, April 9. /TASS/. Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, supports the position of the Greek leadership that anti-Russian sanctions are counter-productive, its speaker Sergey Naryshkin told reporters on Thursday.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday at a news conference after meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow that the economic war could plunge the West and Russia into a cold war.

He said this "dead-locked way of reciprocal sanctions" that bring no solution to the problems needs to be stopped.

Naryshkin said Greece’s stance on the anti-Russian sanctions is open.

"We assess this position in an objective way. We have repeatedly said that the so-called sanctions — as these are in fact measures of illegal character, speculations and political and economic blackmail — cause damage to Russia and the EU countries," he stressed.

"That’s why we will certainly support Greece’s position on this issue," the speaker said.

In an exclusive interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman last week, Tsipras said Greece did not back the West’s sanctions against Russia as this was a "road to nowhere."

Russia introduced a package of counter-measures on August 7 in retaliation to the sanctions imposed by the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union and Norway against Moscow over its stance on developments in neighboring Ukraine.

Russia’s counter-sanctions involve a one-year ban on food and agricultural imports from the countries that slapped sanctions against Moscow.