Interview with Sergei Chemezov RBC. The main thing

On relations with Europe and America

The current sanctions are definitely not soft. Everything possible to make life difficult has already been done. Very tough sanctions are, in fact, war. And we, of course, must be prepared for this. But I think that Americans and Europeans are not ready for this war. Europeans first. We have a small volume of trade with the United States , so there is no dependence, except for some individual points. And the Europeans are closer to us, their economy is more tied to the Russian one. Of course, the Europeans are not enthusiastic about this. For our part, we are doing everything to protect partnerships from degradation.

Intuition suggests that the current situation is for a long time. Because the influence of Americans on Europeans is still quite strong. The Americans will continue to act like this to keep us on our toes. Do not give the opportunity to develop and expand the circle of our partners. Therefore, they will do everything to keep the European countries in their orbit.

About explosions in the Czech Republic

RUSSIA has nothing to do with these explosions [in the arms depots in the Czech Republic]. It happened a long time ago, the investigation is almost completed. And suddenly, from somewhere, a wave of anti-Russian sentiment began. Even the President of the Czech Republic himself said that "I'm sorry, but ..." when the secret services reported to him about the results of the completion of the investigation, there were no traces of Russia or the Russian special services. I think this is a pure provocation to make a scandal and aggravate relations.

Why aggravate relations between Ukraine and Russia? To draw Ukraine away from Russia, to create a hotbed of tension on the border with Russia and on [other] immediate borders with Russia. And the Czech Republic is also not so far away.