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West bends sanctions rules when it suits them — Kremlin

Dmitry Peskov noted that, "according to some parameters, companies in Europe and other regions can hardly maintain their competitiveness if they completely abandon our products"
Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov Sergey Karpukhin/TASS
Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov
© Sergey Karpukhin/TASS

MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. The West introduces sanctions banning Russian goods, then bends the rules when their industries need these products to survive, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"We understand [the West’s] selective approach. We see that, according to some parameters, companies in Europe and other regions can hardly maintain their competitiveness if they completely abandon our products," the Kremlin official said, commenting on the Canadian government granting permission to use Russian titanium for Airbus.

According to Peskov, "in such cases, Westerners act at their discretion, without paying attention to conventions."

On Wednesday Reuters reported that the Canadian government had given Airbus the go-ahead to use Russian titanium, despite sanctions imposed by Ottawa in February against the Russian corporation VSMPO-Avisma, the world's largest titanium producer. Airbus repeatedly warned that restrictions on Russian titanium could deal a severe blow to the Western aircraft industry, while the Russian economy would be largely unaffected.