MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti) – Western sanctions against Russia’s defense sector will fire back at the United States and the European Union, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Wednesday.
“To be honest, the West is behaving inadequately. They are shooting themselves in the foot by imposing sanctions. You may lose a market in an hour but it may take decades to restore,” Rogozin wrote on his Facebook page.
The sanctions will have a positive impact on Russian industry, making it more independent, the vice prime minister said.
"Russia is doomed to have its own industry, not the notorious ‘industrial assembly,’ but real production, from independent development to product release, without which all the words about our independence are no more than buzz," Rogozin stressed.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he told the government to retaliate against Western sanctions. Putin stressed that Moscow’s response should “be done very carefully, so that domestic manufacturers are supported without detriment to consumers.”
Last week, the European Union and the United States imposed a new round of sanctions targeting the financial, energy and defense sectors of the Russian economy in response to the Ukrainian crisis. Moscow has repeatedly called such measures counterproductive and stressed that Russia was not one of the sides involved in the Ukrainian conflict.
