Alwaght-The advocates of sanctions imposed by Europe on Moscow have been wrong about the effectiveness of the policy, which has also had no effect on Iran, says the Russian deputy foreign minister.
Speaking at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations on the occasion of the Diplomat's Day on Wednesday, Sergei Ryabkov said the sanctions imposed on the Kremlin over the crisis in eastern Ukraine would have an “opposite” effect just like the ones against Tehran over its nuclear program, Russia’s Interfax reported.
"The pursuers of this (sanctions) policy have false ideas about potential efficiency of sanctions against Russia," said the deputy foreign minister.
"These people are doing harm to themselves," he noted. "I don't know how much time they will need to realize this reality."
Russia has been hit with a series of sanctions by the United States and the European Union, which accuse Moscow of supporting pro-Russia forces in eastern Ukraine, saying the Russian intervention poses a security threat to Ukraine and all other neighboring states, an allegation categorically denied by the Kremlin.
Likewise, the West has imposed sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program that "has always been peaceful," as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, told Press TV earlier this week.
Iran and the P5+1 group of countries – the US, Britain France, Russia, China, and Germany – have been engaged in talks in an effort to seal a high-profile political deal on Tehran's nuclear program by the end of March and to confirm the full technical details of the accord by July 1.
