“We haven’t noted any drop in interest among American business in working with Russia. I don’t know of any large American companies working on the Russian market that have planned to close their projects or pull their stakes out,” Sergei Kislyak told RIA Novosti.
US businesses understand better than US politicians that using sanctions to isolate Russia or harm its economy is impossible, the envoy added.
“We are gradually explaining, helping to understand that using sanctions to isolate Russia or harming its economy, one of the largest [in the world] by the way, is impossible. According to our contacts here in business circles, [businessmen] understand this better than politicians,” Kislyak told RIA Novosti.
The United States and its allies have imposed multiple sanctions against Russia’s banking, energy and military sectors, as well as several high-profile individuals over Moscow’s alleged involvement in Ukraine’s internal affairs.
Russian authorities have repeatedly denied any involvement in the Ukrainian crisis, calling the sanctions “counterproductive,” and introduced a one-year ban on some food imports from the United States, the European Union and other countries that supported the restrictions.
