Russia to decide whether to prolong or lift individual sanctions based on acts of the West

Russia will decide whether to prolong or lift individual sanctions in view of acts of the West, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday.

Russia introduced counter sanctions on import of foreign foods on August 8, 2014 for the term of one year, the prime minister said. "Certainly, our activities will also depend on acts of our partners. Reasoning from their statements, they do not want and have no plans of returning to the market and we will not persuade them," Medvedev said.

"Counter-sanctions, restrictive measures or embargo are not the main point there. Russia will be consistently implementing its food policy, either with or without sanctions. We embarked on that path and will not leave it," the prime minister said. "Strategic goals are unchanged," Medvedev said. "These are advanced agriculture, high-tech food industry, competitive trading system and modern machine-building," he added.