MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. Russia was able to find internal reserves and to discover its potential in the agricultural sector due to Western sanctions, Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said Wednesday.

"We are grateful to our European and American colleagues who made us take a fresh look at agriculture, forced us to find the reserves [discover - TASS] our potential," he said.

"Against sanctions the agriculture sector has a tendency to grow. We’ve learned not only to survive, but to work in this situation," Tkachev said.

"If our Western partners believe that the sanctions set us back many years, they are deeply mistaken," Tkachev said.