By James Slavyanski
MOSCOW
The purpose of U.S.-led sanctions against Russia is to create the socio-economic conditions for regime change in the country, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has said.
Ryabkov's comments on Monday came as Moscow struggles with a plunging rouble as it faces U.S. and EU sanctions over its annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine, along with falling oil prices.
Speaking at a hearing on U.S.-Russian relations in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian federation, Ryabkov said: "... in spite of protests to the contrary from the administration in the U.S., everything suggests that the preparation of a background for the development of this sort of event in Russia is among Washington's foreign policy priorities."
Ryabkov said Russia's reaction to the policies had been "calm" and its responses measured, but he admitted that resolving the current situation would take a long time.
He said: "I am not ready to say how long this new edition of the Cold War will last ... (but) I know one thing - getting out of the current situation of U.S. sanctions will take many years."
"As for the specifics of affairs between Russia and the U.S., the picture is as follows; the relationship had begun to deteriorate long before Ukraine, through no fault of Russia," he added.
- US 'interference'
Referring to the much-hyped "reset" in U.S.-Russian relations proposed by Washington in 2008, he said: "The reset was officially declared finished in 2008. It allowed the removal of the dregs from the '90's. One of the results of this period was the restriction of the U.S.' capabilities to interfere in our internal affairs."
He also accused the U.S. of trying to isolate Russia from its neighbors, particularly countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States formed after the 1991 dissolution of the former Soviet Union.
The U.S. first levied sanctions against "individuals and legal entities presenting a threat to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine" on March 17 following the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia.
Further sanctions were levied by the U.S., EU, Canada, Australia, and Japan over alleged Russian support for separatists in Eastern Ukraine.
www.aa.com.tr/en
