MOSCOW, Feb 10 Russia's retaliatory sanctions against the West are a form of defense against aggressive and illegal actions , said Sergey Naryshkin, director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. «Retaliatory sanctions are a form of protection against the illegal aggressive activities of other states. They are completely legitimate because they comply with the basic norms of the UN Charter,» Naryshkin said in an interview with the MK newspaper. Naryshkin noted that sanctions pressure cannot be interpreted otherwise than as a weapon of geopolitical struggle, and sanctions are essentially acts of economic aggression. The purpose of such aggression is to inflict economic damage and curb the socio-economic development of states «objectionable» to the West, the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service noted. 30Russia is ready to respond to European sanctions with counter-sanctions, Chizhov said
