Sergei Lavrov: Customs Union may impose trade regulations to West in response to sanctions on Russia

In the interview with RIA Novosti Russian Foreign Minister shared his position on all major events that Russia was involved in 2014. He also touched upon Eurasian integration and Belarus’ role in it.

Asked whether #Belarus complies with the obligation to block the import of sanctioned goods from Europe into Russia” in the interview with RIA Novosti, Sergei Lavrov said that “we have no reasons to doubt this”.

“During the past couple of years, Eurasian economic integration has established itself in our life. The official launch of the Eurasian Economic Union is set for January 1, 2015… It is destined to play a significant role in improving the competitiveness of the national economies of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, as well as stabilizing the whole region, - the Foreign Minister of Russia claimed. – Regarding the pressure from the West, my colleagues and I agree that these restrictive measures towards Russia are against international law and do not contribute to the improvement of the domestic crisis in Ukraine”.

As to the Western economic sanctions that were aimed at targeting Russia, “our retaliatory measures were imposed on a unilateral basis on countries that sanctioned us. The rules and regulations of the Customs Union allow its members to impose trade regulations on third parties only if there has been economic pressure from that country towards any one member of the Customs Union. Despite that rule, the Customs Union at the moment is not considering imposing trade regulations to the West in response to Western sanctions on Russia. The possibility that this might happen in the future remains open, though”, - Lavrov emphasized.

Giving more detailed answer regarding Belarus’ compliance with the import ban of EU goods to Russia, the diplomat said that  “in the conditions of a unified market it is quite difficult to rule out dishonest actions by western economic agents, who could profit by smuggling banned goods into Russia. In the meantime, the leaders of Belarus and Kazakhstan assure us that they will prevent such actions… We are satisfied with their cooperation and are grateful for the provided assistance”.

Lavrov also mentioned “new horizons” for augmenting trade possibilities within the Customs Union, adding that Russia is ready to help Belarus “occupy niches in the Russian market that had become vacant as a result of the myopic Western policy”.