US Unlikely to Lift Sanctions Soon But Dialogue Needed - Russian Investment Fund

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The US sanctions against Russia are unlikely to be lifted in the near future, but the launch of a dialogue between the two countries in order to bridge the differences is still an important issue, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev said in an interview released on Monday.

"I think that there are no expectations that sanctions will be lifted soon and, by the way, sanctions in many ways benefit some sectors of the Russian economy, our agribusiness grew quite a bit and many other sectors [as well]. I think that expectation is that it is just normal to have a dialogue between Russia and the United States, that is very important. We have lots of shared problems that we need to deal with," Dmitriev told Bloomberg TV.

The RDIF CEO stressed that the US investors continued to invest their money in the Russian economy despite the sanctions.

READ MORE: Rome to Be 'One of the First' to Support Lifting Anti-Russia Sanctions — Salvini

Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with US President Donald Trump to hold their first ever full-fledged summit in Helsinki, during which they are expected to discuss the prospects of the bilateral relations' development.

In this regard, Dmitriev was asked if Russian investors expected sanctions to be lifted sooner as a result of the two presidents' meeting.