Russian Foreign Ministry says the West is obsessed with anti-Russian sanctions

The West is obsessed with anti-Russian sanctions, but Russia has adapted to them and continues to follow its course. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Izvestia on Thursday, December 12.

"There is nothing left in the foreign policy arsenal of this group except sanctions. They are obsessed with sanctions, seeing that no efforts to actually strengthen their own material and political positions in the world are having the desired effect, the dominance of the West is eroding," he said.

The diplomat noted that the sanctions against Moscow are already ineffective and have become just a "publicity game". They, on the contrary, stimulated the development of domestic production and import substitution, although it took effort.

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On the eve it became known that the ambassadors of the European Union agreed on the 15th package of anti-Russian sanctions. It was noted that the new package of sanctions against Russia was formed in response to Russia's "aggression" against Ukraine.

Prior to that, on November 26, Bloomberg reported that within the framework of the 15th package Brussels plans to impose restrictions against more than 45 oil tankers of the Russian Federation. Also under threat are more than 50 individuals and about 30 organizations.

Western countries increased sanctions pressure on Russia after the start of the special operation to protect civilians in Donbass, which was announced on February 24, 2022.