Russia’s Foreign Minister said that he believes the West prepared sanctions against Russia for “quite a while” and it is highly “unlikely” that they will be revoked anytime soon.

Speaking with TF1, Sergey Lavrov noted that the speed with which the West introduced the measures, in addition to the volume “indicated that the sanctions were not created overnight”.

“They were being prepared for quite a while. It is unlikely that these sanctions will be lifted”, - Lavrov remarked.

He also slammed the West over the lack of clarity on the extension of the sanctions imposed on Russia. The Russian FM highlighted that the West has indicated that the sanctions could remain even after the “crisis” in Ukraine subsides.

“At least, the US, not publicly but during contacts with its allies, says that when all this (the war in Ukraine) is over, the sanctions will remain anyway”, - he said.