As Dmitry Medvedev noted, the anti-Russian campaign in the world pursues domestic political goals in 90% out of 100

According to the Prime Minister, despite the fact that sanctions against the banking sector are the heaviest, the Russian authorities have no doubt that the Russian economy is able to adapt to any forms of pressure.

On the eve of the Asia—Europe Summit (ASEM, Asia-Europe Meeting — an international organization uniting the countries of East Asia and Europe), Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev shared with Euronews his thoughts about the political and economic situation in the world.

"Donald Tusk is not the whole European Union yet"

"We know each other, I know his position on various issues, we met in different situations. But, I repeat once again, what even the person who heads the European Commission says does not mean that this is the opinion of the entire European Union. Let's leave it on his conscience."

"Relations between Russia and the European Union are going through hard times. We believe that this is the result of those rather hasty decisions that were taken by the European Union itself. And, it seems to me, those who live in the European Union are paying for these decisions."

"Naturally, this has a negative impact on our country. Companies and firms are paying. Ultimately, it affects people as well. Because a significant part of trade and economic cooperation was turned off, humanitarian cooperation was reduced very significantly.

"Unfortunately, we have lost dialogue with some countries altogether"

"I can say directly that, for example, we have no relations with Poland at the level of political and economic dialogue now. Is it good or not? Don't know. I think this is not very good, even considering the specific history that binds our countries." 

"When I visited Poland during a certain period, it seems to me that we were much closer to establishing a dialogue. Now there is no such dialogue, there is nothing good in this either."

"We believe that it is better to cooperate than to refuse to cooperate, it is better to communicate than not to communicate, it is better to negotiate than to be in some kind of contradictions, contradictions. Development is better than stagnation. That's why we take part in all international events of this kind."

About the "anti-Russian hysteria in the USA"

"We understand perfectly well that everything connected with Russia is now pursuing a different goal in the United States of America — it is internal political showdowns. In fact, a showdown between Republicans and Democrats, a showdown within the Republican Party."

"The same applies to European countries. This anti-Russian campaign in 90% out of 100 pursues absolutely domestic political goals: to remain in power, to form a government, to achieve some other results. But certainly not to influence Russia's position. It is impossible to influence her, everyone understands this perfectly."

"Tightening the screws in the sanctions confrontation again does not lead to anything good. The Americans constantly say that they are going to increase the sanctions pressure. I have already said this and I want to remind you once again that sanctions were announced 10 times against the Soviet Union (although we are not the Soviet Union, and even the values of the Russian state are different, nevertheless we are the legal successors of the Soviet Union) throughout the XX century. 

I have repeatedly said this. Did it somehow change the line of behavior of the Soviet Union? Sanctions were announced against the People's Republic of China. Has this somehow changed the line that the political leadership of China is pursuing? Etc. Sanctions are an absolutely unproductive story."

"There is no doubt that we will be able to overcome this kind of pressure"

"Sanctions against the banking sector are really a declaration of a trade war, these are the most severe sanctions. There is no doubt that we will be able to overcome this kind of pressure.

We have no doubt that our economy is capable of adapting to any form of pressure. The only question is why it is necessary. The question is precisely that it destroys the international order, including the international economic order."

"Now there are trade wars — in fact, this is exactly the case — between the United States of America and China, between the United States of America and the European Union, between the United States of America and Iran. Some of these sanctions are directed against our country."

"The question arises: is it better for the international trading system? Does this make countries live better? Does the business feel better?".

"The fact that the Americans announce sanctions against our country, American business does not suffer very much"

"We have a small volume of trade turnover. But European business suffers very much because we have a huge volume of trade turnover. The trade turnover with the United States of America right now is a bad period — about $ 20 billion. It's nothing. The trade turnover with the European Union is much higher. 45% of our trade turnover is in the European Union. This is hundreds of billions of euros." 

"I'll just give you one example. After the sanctions were announced, our trade turnover with the European Union decreased by about half. It was 430 billion euros, and at some point it fell to 220-230. The question arises: what has Europe lost on this?

And she lost her jobs. Lost profit. I lost confidence in the development of even small regions that were somehow tied to trade with our country. Therefore, sanctions are a bad way."

"We didn't choose Donald Trump. Donald Trump is the President of the United States of America"

"We respect the choice of the American people. If there was another president in Trump's place, we would treat him with no less respect."

"As far as we understand, it is not very easy for Donald Trump right now, because he is being attacked from the right and from the left. On the one hand, he is suspected of having some kind of sympathy for our country, although, strictly speaking, he has not done anything in terms of radically improving relations between our countries yet. And he is hardly able to do it — precisely because of the pressure that is being put on him. And on the other hand, he is under pressure in other directions."

A source:https://customsforum.ru/news/big/medvedev-sanktsii-v-otnoshenii-bankovskogo-sektora-eto-obyavlenie-torgovoy-voyny-549768.html