OREANDA-NEWS  The Russian Foreign Ministry believes that sanctions against Moscow will not weaken in the near future.

"The escalation will certainly happen, because we are an inconvenient partner and we are obstinate in their eyes and do not give any hope that we will be receptive to their recipe," Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin said during an expert discussion on the topic: "Sanctions and the oil and gas sector: political risks for business."

The event was held at the site of the club "Valdai".

The United States, the European Union and some other countries since 2014 impose economic restrictions against Russia under various pretexts. Most often it is connected with the Ukrainian problem, although the latest package of sanctions in the EU was motivated by the incident in Salisbury.

Restrictions apply to both individuals and companies, and even entire sectors of the economy - financial, energy, defense - and their list is only expanding.

Russia in response took a course on import substitution and has repeatedly stated that talking to her in the language of sanctions is counterproductive.

 Russia in terms of sanctions will look for workarounds to work with partners in the energy sector, but will not play the game without rules, said Deputy foreign Minister Alexander Pankin during an expert discussion on "Sanctions and the oil and gas sector: political risks for business" at the site of the club "Valdai".

"We will continue to confidently do what we are doing - diversify the energy sector, look for partners, work with them, we will lose some markets-we will find others, we will find workarounds. We do not want to get on the path of the game without rules, which we are pushed, because then the game without rules - this will be the basis for accusing us of being wild, broken. We will comply with the unconditional rules, but when I talk about workarounds - not necessarily to break the law, it can be circumvented," said Pankin.