[Iran Press TV] Russian foreign minister says his country will not give in to the European Union...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
's demands over the crisis in Ukraine, noting that the 28-member bloc will be loser of the sanctions it has slapped against Moscow.
"It goes without saying that we are not going to discuss some sort of criteria for the removal of sanctions," Sergei Lavrov told members of the Association of European Businesses in Moscow on Tuesday.
He added, "Whoever introduced them should cancel them. We are not going to implement someone's far-fetched demands. We don't know who is losing out more in terms of economy: Russia or the European Union."
The top Russian diplomat further noted that the total damage from anti-Moscow sanctions could cost EU taxpayers 40 billion euros ($50.6 billion) this year, and 50 billion euros ($63.3 billion) next year.
Lavrov stated that Russia is open to mending fences with European countries, saying, "I think that no clear-headed person in Europe would dispute an idea that there is no sensible alternative to improving ties between Russia and the EU."
Lavrov's comments came ahead of his planned meeting with US Secretary of State John F.
I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a
lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
in Gay Paree later on Tuesday. The crisis in Ukraine is at the heart of the talks.
Ukraine's mainly Russian-speaking regions in the east have been the scene of deadly festivities between pro-Moscow forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations to stifle the pro-Russian protests in mid-April.