Russia intends to withstand sanctions by West, complete its goal in Donbas region: Kremlin

Russia intends to withstand the sanctions imposed by the West and achieve its aim in eastern Ukraine's Donbas area, said the spokesperson of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov amid the ongoing Moscow-Kyiv war. On being asked about Russia's intention to occupy Ukrainian territory in Odessa, Kharkiv, and Kherson, Peskov told CNN that the decision will be made based on local people's will. “The number one goal is to protect the people of Donbas and Luhansk from those who are shelling Donetsk, for example, right now, and killing civilians there. And have been doing that for the last eight to nine years," he added.

Peskov claimed, “As for other territories and regions of Ukraine, you know, the more our military is cleaning up the territory from those nationalistic regiments, the more people are welcoming them and the more people declaring their desire to discontinue their future life with the modern regime in Kyiv”. 

Furthermore, the spokesperson accepted that Russia is not in a comfortable situation as a result of the "unprecedented" economic sanctions imposed by the West against Moscow. He, however, stated the key effect of the penalties that the West had planned for "did not happen."  

Russia aims to give its domestic industries and infrastructure a significant boost

In addition to this, Peskov noted that currently, they have been feeling a "little bit better" than one might expect. He added, “Of course, we understand our problems, we understand that in a very short time we will have to compensate for quite a significant decrease of more than 40%-45% in imports." The Kremlin spokesperson stated that Russia intends to give its domestic industries and infrastructure a significant boost. 

According to Peskov, in order to restructure imports, they would have to first rearrange import orientation. To compensate for the western approach, Russia would have to increase imports from the east, he added implying an increase in Asian imports. 

Apart from this, Russia, according to Peskov, poses no danger to the Baltic states or Finland, which announced its decision to enter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) last month, ending a decades-long military non-alliance in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He said, “We are sure that the membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO won’t bring any additional benefits to the security of the European continent. On the contrary, it will bring additional tension,” CNN reported.  

Western sanctions were not developed overnight: Sergey Lavrov

Meanwhile, in the month of May, Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, claimed that the West has been planning sanctions on Russia for quite some time and that they are "unlikely" to be lifted very soon. Lavrov told TF1 that the rapidity with which the West implemented the sanctions, as well as the sheer number, proved that the penalties were not developed overnight. 

The foreign minister also chastised the West for failing to provide clarification on the renewal of Russia's sanctions. As per media reports, the Russian Foreign Minister emphasised that the West has suggested that sanctions may stay in place even after the "crisis" in Ukraine has passed.  

(Image: AP)