VIENNA, May 14./ITAR-TASS/. If the West goes on with the policy of sanctions against individual Russian citizens and corporations, Moscow will offer a tarnishing response to it, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday in an interview with the Iranian news agency Tasnim.

“I think the policy of sanctions is akin to rocking the boat in which you’re swimming,” he said. “Everything is this world is taking place on the basis of mutuality. We’re not trying to copy just everything that comes our way, but counter-measures happen to be there, too, in such situations.”

“If the Western sanctions continue, we’ll respond to them and our response will be felt rather painfully in the capital cities of the target countries,” Ryabkov said.

The authorities in Kiev should hurry to enter into a dialogue with those Ukrainian regions which have declared independence, Sergei Ryabkov also said.

“I believe that the opinions of those, who participated in the properly organized and democratic referendums the world has seen, should actually be respected. So the Kiev authorities ought to establish a dialogue with the separating regions as soon as possible”, he said.

Ryabkov believes that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe OSCE may contribute to the dialogue as well, while the EU should take more responsibility, terminate sanctions and conduct a policy that will influence Kiev.

“The authorities in Kiev should switch to a more rational political line regarding the regions. We have the same attitude towards the US policy”, Ryabkov stressed.