Russia's PM Medvedev: Lift sanctions, improve relations

NAYPYIDAW , Myanmar, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday economic sanctions against Russia must be lifted before any improvement in relations with the West can be seen.

Speaking at a summit meeting in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, Medvedev said it was necessary "to abandon sanctions, move relations to a normal, working order, return to normal, calm talks."

The United States and the European Union applied sanctions, largely to banks, oil producers and defense companies in several rounds, earlier this year, as a reprisal to Russia's annexation of Crimea and its military inclusions in Ukraine. The Russian ruble sank in value as a result, but Medvedev said he expected it to rebound when the Russian economy finds "its point of balance."

In a Tuesday interview with CNBC, which was broadcast Wednesday, he added the idea of a diplomatic "reset," suggested in September by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, was impossible.

"No, of course not. It's absolutely impossible. Let's be clear: We did not come up with these sanctions, our international partners did."

Medvedev said Russia would survive the sanctions, but had "no doubt" international relations had been damaged. He expressed discouragement with U.S. President Barack Obama's speech in September, in which he considered Russia a global threat behind only the Ebola virus.

"I don't want to dignify it with a response. It's sad, it's like some kind of mental aberration. We need to come back to a normal position, and only after that we can elaborate on how we are going to elaborate our positions in the future," he said.