Lavrov said that the West did not stop imposing sanctions against Russia

The West has never stopped imposing sanctions against RUSSIA and will always find a reason for this, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Serbian media, the press conference was broadcast in the department's community on VKontakte.

“Just a reminder that the sanctions against Russia never stopped. We lived in Soviet times under the sanctions of CoCom - the Committee for the Coordination of Exports, when the West in every possible way prevented the supply of high-tech equipment to Russia. We lived for very long years under the Jackson-Vanik amendment,” the minister said.

The Jackson-Vanik Amendment is an amendment to the United States Trade Act passed by Congress in 1974. it introduced a ban on the most favored nation treatment in trade, as well as on the issuance of government loans and credit guarantees to countries with non-market economies, if, in the opinion of the US authorities, they prevented emigration and violated other human rights. The amendment also introduced discriminatory tariffs and fees for imported goods from these countries. Since 1989, the US authorities have annually extended the moratorium on the amendment, but US President Barack Obama lifted it only at the end of 2012.

“I think there will always be a reason [for sanctions], because the goal is not to solve any specific problem, but the goal is to restrain the development of Russia in a strategic, geopolitical sense. Therefore, we are well aware of the ability of the West to look for reasons,” the minister said.

Since the end of February, Western countries have introduced several packages of sanctions against Russia. The restrictions affected the defense and banking sectors, industry and top officials personally, as well as some Russian entrepreneurs. Dozens of foreign companies announced their withdrawal from the Russian market, and the property of Russian businessmen began to be arrested abroad.