Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev. Archival photoMOSCOW, March 25 — RIA Novosti.With its restrictions, the West is trying to turn Russians against the authorities, but, on the contrary, consolidation is taking place, and this is the weak point of «stupid sanctions», said Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev in an interview with RIA Novosti.
"In fact, with these sanctions, the Western world is trying to influence the citizens of our country, to hurt them. And of course, try to turn against the course of the state leadership, against the course of the president, in the expectation that in the end it will result in some kind of trouble for the authorities, that this will create some problems for the authorities,” the agency’s interlocutor said.
The West does not understand how its pressure affects people, he stressed. «But it seems to me that the people who generate these decisions absolutely do not understand our mentality, they do not understand the attitude of the Russian people in the broadest sense of the word. They do not understand the incentives motives that when such pressure is applied — and this pressure is not on large entrepreneurs, not on big business, this is pressure on everyone and everyone — society is consolidated,» Medvedev believes.
Brazil condemned unilateral sanctions against RussiaAccording to him, the West is trying to influence not just entrepreneurs, but the sectors of the economy that are behind this big business — and these are hundreds of thousands, millions of Russians.
"Even those who in some situation were offended or believed that they paid little attention or some wrong decisions were made, in this situation he says: "Well, yes, yes, probably, in some way — then they were wrong. But in general, in this situation, I will stand for the state. I will be the conductor of the state course", — said the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council.
A weak point of restrictive measures, according to Medvedev, is their opposite effect. jpg» />Medvedev called «stupid» the attempts of the West to influence the Russian government «This, it seems to me, they are absolutely unable to understand, just as they were not able to understand 70 years ago, and 100 years ago, and during various kinds of armed campaigns that were carried out in including against our country: that this kind of restrictions, deprivations — they only unite people, consolidate people, and do not divide them. And this is their main miscalculation, this is the weak point of these stupid sanctions, «concluded the deputy chairman of the Security Council. On February 24, Russia began military operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. In response, Western countries announced large-scale sanctions against Moscow, primarily in the banking sector and the supply of high-tech products. Some brands have announced the termination of work in the country. The Kremlin called these measures an economic war, the likes of which have not yet been. The authorities stressed their readiness for such a development of events and assured that they would continue to fulfill social obligations. The Bank of Russia is taking measures to stabilize the situation on the foreign exchange market. According to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the government has prepared a plan to counter restrictive measures, which includes about a hundred initiatives. The volume of its funding will amount to about a trillion rubles. Vladimir Putin signed a decree expanding the powers of regional authorities in the socio-economic sphere. The document also obliges them to increase social benefits, provide targeted support to citizens, ensure price stability for essential goods, control the situation on the labor market and reduce administrative barriers for private businesses. The president also announced an increase in pensions, a living wage and salaries for state employees.