MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. The West is not thinking its sanctions against Russia through to the end, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with radio stations Sputnik, Govorit Moskva, and Komsomolskaya Pravda.
"Sanctions are usually introduced in order to change someone's behavior. By imposing these sanctions, calibrating them, if you really want to achieve a result, you have to understand how the target will react," the minister said. "They are thoughtlessly increasing these sanctions, without even thinking about what the result [might be], and the result was obvious from the very first days, even before the special military operation, when the Crimean sanctions and others were in effect. The result was clear," he added.
According to Lavrov, Russia has decided not to depend on the West in all spheres, including those in which it can limit the country's development.
The Russian Foreign Minister also commented on how Western countries "are now proudly saying that they have gotten rid of Russian gas." He pointed out that supplies were increasing to many nations, including France and Italy.
"Italy has now said that 'from 90% of Russia's share in our gas that we consume, we will drop to zero in three years,'" Lavrov continued. "[German Chancellor Olaf] Scholz said the same thing, presenting it to his electorate as a great victory that they have sharply reduced and will soon not depend on Russian energy at all. None of them - and many Dutch people are talking about this topic, almost all Western Europeans, some Eastern Europeans - do not say how much it costs, how much the cost of providing for the population increases by. But the population sees how it is all playing out."
"[US political scientist Mark] Episkopos is also saying that not estimating how Russia will react is a big mistake. They do not understand that sanctions are effective only if the target is willing to change its behavior in order for the sanctions to be lifted. When this target has already said that it will not change its behavior, continuing along this path is pointless and mindless. This is the policy of our colleagues," Lavrov said.