Russia has no plans to impose new countersanctions
either on the United States or on the European Union as a policy of
external restrictions has no prospects, Prime Minister Dmitry
Medvedev said in an interview with the Israeli Channel 2
broadcaster.
"We are not planning any additional retaliatory restrictive
measures since we have taken all the necessary steps recently,"
Medvedev said, reminding that Russia had banned supplies of food
and some goods from the US, EU and other countries that joined the
sanctions.
"I do not think the continuation of sanctions swaps is a correct
way," he said. "A sanctions race is not a good story, either."
The Russian prime minister believes that "sanctions have always
been a bad thing."
"We have never called for the sanctions to be applied against
any country," he noted, reminding that sanctions were used against
the Soviet Union repeatedly.
"And what was achieved? Absolutely nothing. The Soviet Union
went its course," Medvedev said.
In 2014, the European Union, the US along with some other
countries imposed sanctions on Russia after its reunification with
Crimea and have repeatedly extended and expanded them. In
retaliation, Moscow suspended imports of some goods from those
states.