Trying to isolate Russia with sanctions and restrictive measures is "an absurd and illusory goal," Russia's president has said. Moscow intends to "further deepen" cooperation with EU partners, Vladimir Putin told the Serbian newspaper, Politika, reports GHN based on RT.
"If the main goal is to isolate our country, it's an absurd and illusory goal. It is obviously impossible to achieve it and the economic health of Europe and the world can be seriously undermined," Russia's president said.
"Attempts to put pressure on Russia with unilateral and illegitimate restrictive measures" is not going to help reach an agreement, but will "rather impede the dialogue," Putin said particularly referring to the nearly year-long Ukrainian conflict that the international community blames on Russia.
"Washington actively supported the Maidan protests, and when its Kiev henchmen antagonized a large part of Ukraine through rabid nationalism and plunged the country into a civil war, it blamed Russia for provoking the crisis," Putin said."Any unbiased person knows that it was not Russia who staged the coup d'état in Ukraine, which led to the grave internal political crisis and a split in society."
Speaking of sanctions, Putin reiterated that Russia will "adopt a balanced approach to assessing the risks and impact" of sanctions imposed by the EU and the US and will "respond to them proceeding from our national interests."
Certainly, he added, the current situation and "decline in mutual confidence" will have a negative impact on European and American companies operating in Russia as well as on the international business climate in general.
At the same time, Russia is ready to develop relations with its EU partners and "constructive cooperation" with the US.
As for the EU, Russia intends to settle a dispute with Ukraine over gas supplies to European partners, which receive about 15 percent of their energy via Ukraine. In June, Russia's gas giant Gazprom shut off supplies to Ukraine, but continued deliveries to European neighbors. If there is no agreement reached between Russia and Ukraine, Europe will face serious energy shortages.
"I would like to stress that Russia is meeting its obligations in full with regard to gas supplies to European consumers," Putin said. "We intend to further deepen our cooperation with the EU in the energy sector, where we are natural partners, on a transparent and predictable basis."