MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Moscow is not afraid of possible new sanctions against Russia on the part of the G7 member countries, and will respond to them at the right time, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Tuesday.
“Every time they [G7 members] say something arrogant in their statements, texts, we will remind them that they are destroying the system in which they call on others to operate. This is not even a double standard, but a new standard of the Group of Seven. We will fight this standard,” Ryabkov told reporters.
“We are not afraid of sanctions, we will respond at the right time and in the right way,” he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier in the day that the G7 meeting had a “Russophobic background.”
On Monday, the G7 Foreign Ministers at a meeting in Canada’s Toronto accused Russia of “destabilizing behavior,” saying that Russia was “highly likely” responsible for the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in Salisbury. The G7 foreign ministers also praised The US-led strikes against Syria and expressed “regret” over Russia vetoing the renewal of the mandate of the [OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland also said that G7 will form a working group on Russia to defend democracies against disinformation. She also refused to say if or when the economic sanctions in place against Russia would ever be lifted.
Russia-west relations have been tense since 2014, when economic and diplomatic sanctions against Moscow were introduced over the Ukrainian crisis and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. Moscow has repeatedly said it is not a party to the Ukrainian conflict, and insisted that the referendum in Crimea had been carried out in line with the international law. As a response measure, Russia has introduced a food embargo against countries which had targeted it with sanctions.
In early April, the United States unveiled new sanctions against Russia over the country’s alleged global destabilization efforts. A number of Russian businessmen and companies controlled by them, as well as a number of high-ranking officials were specifically targeted in the restrictions.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
