The economic embargo imposed by Russia has had the biggest effect upon Russia itself as the selection of food products sharply decreased while food prices soared, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė states.
“It was Russia itself that decided to put an embargo on imports of food products from the West and harm its people. This led to a price hike, decrease in the amount and selection of products. Consequently, even the action when Russia takes sanctions against itself, which definitely was not the proposal from the West, shows that the Russian response is inadequate and a result of its aggressive policies,” Grybauskaitė said in an interview to the national radio LRT on Friday morning, delfi.lt reports.
In her opinion, it is the citizens of Russia who are suffering from sanctions, not the Western countries.
According to her, the Russian embargo hardly affects Lithuania is quite, even in the field of logistics. The Western sanctions against Russia have paid off, the Lithaunian leader said.
“Russia was expelled from the G8 summits, and the closest operators of the Kremlin policies – Russian officials, officers and separatists in Eastern Ukraine – cannot enter the European Union, their bank accounts have been frozen, etc,” Dalia Grybauskaitė stressed.
Russia continues to behave as an aggressor who does not care about people’s lives and fates, Dalia Grybauskaitė says.
The EU, the USA and some other countries introduced sanctions against Russia in March 2014 in response to the annexation of the Crimea. After downing MH17 aircraft in Donetsk region and the escalation of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the restrictive measures were stepped up. Entire sectors of the Russian economy are now under sanctions, not only individuals and entities.
In response, in August, 2014 Russia banned the import of food from countries that imposed sanctions, in particular, from the EU.
In June, 2015 Russia extended the embargo for another year.
www.belsat.eu/en/, following Delfi
