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Minister: Russia's Retaliation Against New Western Sanctions Unreasonable

© Sputnik / Sergei Guneev / Go to the mediabankRussian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev
Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev - Sputnik International
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Russia should not contemplate countermeasures to new Western sanctions as they would hardly be useful with the exception of agriculture, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Tuesday.

Updated 7:47 p.m. Moscow Time 

ISTANBUL, September 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russia should not contemplate countermeasures to new Western sanctions as they would hardly be useful with the exception of agriculture, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Tuesday.

“Our goal is not to harm them [the West], but rather help ourselves,” Ulyukayev told reporters after trade talks with his Turkish counterpart Nihat Zeybekci in Istanbul.

“In the agricultural sector [such measures] are quite understandable as Russia could really become both a self-efficient food producer and large food exporter,” Ulyukayev said.

“However, I cannot agree with the same logic in relation to other [industrial] sectors. That’s why I believe that such measures would hardly be useful,” the minister stressed.

Ulyukayev added that the Russian government should focus on assisting Russian banks and companies targeted by Western sanctions, instead.

The European Union and the United States have been hitting Russia with sanctions over the Ukrainian crisis, the latest batch of which was introduced on September 12. The sanctions target the country's largest banks, energy and defense companies, as well as individuals.

In response to western sanctions, Moscow has implemented a one-year food ban that targets such products as meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables among other produce from the European Union, the United States, Australia, Canada and Norway. Moscow has also prepared a new package of response measures, which may affect machine-building, the petrochemical and automotive sectors, as well as impose restrictions on imports of used cars and textiles.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed that Moscow may introduce these measures only to protect Russia's interests.

No date has been set yet for Moscow's response to new Western sanctions, the Russian president's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.

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