Updated 2:30 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, October 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is working with its partners to have Western sanctions lifted and hopes this will happen soon, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Wednesday.
"We hope that these 'sanction games' will become a thing of the past as soon as possible and are working with our western partners for this to happen," he said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the sanctions that had been imposed on Russia by the United States had damaged Russia-US ties and a "reset" of the relations between the two countries was impossible as long as the restrictive measures remained in place.
The West has been introducing sanctions against Russia over its alleged role in escalating the Ukrainian crisis, although Moscow has repeatedly denied these claims. The sanctions at first targeted certain individuals but later spread onto whole sectors of the Russian economy, targeting Russian largest energy and defense companies, as well as financial institutions.
Russia responded to the sanctions with a ban on food imports from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Norway. On October 13, Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said the ban on food imports would stay in effect until the European Union lifted its anti-Russian sanctions.