Russia May Find Opportunities to Pivot East, Foreign Ministry Says

The building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. File photoNIZHNY NOVGOROD, May 17.Despite the risks and problems that have arisen, Russia also has opportunities, including the ability to turn to the East, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said on Tuesday. «Despite the risks that have arisen and problems, we also have opportunities… The opportunity to turn to the East, to make a radical turn towards promising markets. Here we have great chances of cooperation with China, the creation of joint projects to participate in mutually beneficial processes. Therefore, it seems to me that you need to get a certain benefit from any problem. And I think we will follow this path,» Rudenko said, speaking at the Central Asian conference of the Valdai Club. A number of Western countries have introduced several packages of sanctions against the Russian Federation because of the situation in Ukraine. The EU countries are seriously considering the possibility of abandoning Russian oil and gas, the sixth package of EU sanctions provides for the introduction of an oil embargo, but a number of countries, in particular Hungary, are blocking its adoption. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the policy of containing and weakening Russia is a long-term strategy West, and the sanctions dealt a serious blow to the entire global economy. According to him, the main goal of the West is to worsen the lives of millions of people. He added that current events draw a line under the global dominance of the West in both politics and economics. According to him, Russia is not going to isolate itself, it cannot be strictly isolated in the modern world.