Kremlin: Lifting anti-Russian sanctions key to restoring Moscow-Washington ties

Press Secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov has stated that the normalisation of relations between Russia and the US hinges on the removal of anti-Russian sanctions.

Peskov made the remarks during a regular briefing with journalists, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media.

He reaffirmed Russia's position that Western sanctions against the country are illegal and stressed that in order to move forward with improving bilateral relations, these sanctions must be lifted. 

"Of course, when it comes to normalising bilateral relations, they must be freed from the negative burden of so-called sanctions," Peskov said. 

The Kremlin spokesperson also pointed out that Moscow has yet to receive any official comments or proposals from Washington concerning the potential lifting of sanctions. Peskov emphasised that, without official statements from the US, any discussions or speculations about sanction relief remain premature.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the EU has imposed massive and unprecedented sanctions against Russia.

These sanctions come on top of the measures already imposed on Russia since 2014 following the annexation of Crimea and the lack of implementation of the Minsk agreements.

The sanctions include targeted restrictive measures (individual sanctions), economic sanctions, diplomatic measures and visa measures.

The aim of the economic sanctions is to impose severe consequences on Russia for its actions and to effectively thwart Russia's ability to continue its special military operation.

The individual sanctions target people responsible for supporting, financing or implementing actions which undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine or those who benefit from such actions.

The EU has also adopted sanctions against Belarus, Iran and North Korea in response to their support for Russia in the special military operation against Ukraine.

By Naila Huseynova