Russia does not intend to ask the European Union to lift sanctions in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said an online interview for Russian and foreign media today.
"If the European Union understands that the method [of sanctions] has exhausted itself and refuses the decisions that were taken in 2014, we will, of course, be ready to reciprocate. But we are not going to ask them to do this [lift the sanctions], " the head of Russian diplomacy stressed, in particular.
According to Lavrov, unilateral sanctions in the context of a pandemic are immoral, "their unacceptability must be consolidated in the form of an international agreement."
"Unilateral sanctions are illegitimate themselves, and sanctions that reduce the ability to counter the pandemic in the current conditions and that were adopted without the UN Security Council are absolutely immoral and inhumane. It is important that the unacceptability of unilateral sanctions, especially those that affect the humanitarian interests of ordinary people, should take the form of an international agreement," the Russian Foreign Minister said.
The Minister recalled the consequences of sanctions in the context of a pandemic in countries such as Iran, Syria, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela, where restrictive measures are "direct damage to the situation of ordinary people".
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry