UPDATE: Putin: West to face tit-for-tat retaliation if it extends sanctions

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The West is unlikely to lift anti-Russian sanctions soon, and if they are extended, Moscow will also extend retaliatory measures, President Vladimir Putin said during a live Q&A session on Thursday.

“I believe that our partners are unlikely to abolish restrictions against Russia soon although the Minsk agreements are being fulfilled… They cannot admit that they have gone a wrong way, hit a wall, and that is why they will invent something, keep these restrictions,” Putin said.

“It means that we will maintain retaliatory restrictions on their food product imports.”

If sanctions against Russia are lifted, the country will be in a difficult situation, “because in compliance with WTO norms, Russia will be vulnerable if our retaliatory measures kept,” he said.

If Russia abolishes tit-for-tat sanctions, “there are plenty of ways to support the agricultural sector,” Putin said.

In 2014, relations between Russia and the West deteriorated to their worse since the Cold War due to a military conflict in Ukraine. The West introduced sanctions against some Russian individuals and firms and further against the energy and banking sectors. In response, Russia limited food imports from some countries, including the U.S., the E.U., Canada, Australia, and Norway.

In mid-2015, the mutual sanctions were prolonged for one year.

RUSSIA WELCOMES FOREIGN INVESTORS

Sergei Naryshkin, speaker of the State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, said during an international business conference that the situation in Russia is stable and foreign investors are interested in doing business in the country.

The open dialogue between the government and business is particularly important nowadays, when Russia is put under pressure by Western sanctions, he said.

“Nonetheless, is spite of these senseless attempts of the economic blockade, the situation is quite stable,” Naryshkin said. “Inflation is under control, the budget is optimized, but sustainable, the situation on the labor market is normal, non-oil exports are rising in many branches, the policy of import substitution bears its good fruit.”

Russian authorities are interested in both traditional and new investors, the speaker said. “We see and welcome investors’ interest in doing business in Russia,” he said.

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