MOSCOW, May 19. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia has so far refrained from anything more than warnings on the West's violation of WTO regulations in applying sanctions against some Russian banks, Russian Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukaev told the Rossiya 24 TV channel.
“During the previous meeting of the WTO General Council we saw attempts of our European and US counterparts to speak about some sectoral sanctions against Russia, which would imply a politically motivated limitation of export. And this is a direct violation of the WTO foundations,” said the Minister.
He assured that if this verbal course became practical, Russia would be ready to apply all WTO instruments to counter such attempts. So far, Russia has warned that “this is an inappropriate practice that should be excluded from the international economic relations”.
Russia’s stance on this issue was well understood by Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries who expressed their support during May 17-18 meeting of APEC trade ministers.
On March 20, the US Department of Treasury introduced sanctions against some Russian individuals and organizations, including four banks: Kovalchuk’s Rossiya, Rossiya’s Sobinbank, SMP Bank and InvestCapitalBank, the latter two controlled by the Rotenberg brothers.