Moscow must adopt ‘active defense’ against sanctions, Russia’s Medvedev says

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said Friday that Moscow should pursue an “active defense” against Western sanctions rather than “just sitting in a trench.”

Speaking at a meeting on countering Western sanctions against Russian companies, Medvedev said the sanctions regime had become increasingly comprehensive and systemic since 2014.

“A number of illegal measures are being used, not just a number, but a huge number of them, such as asset freezes, so-called sectoral bans, and export restrictions,” he said in remarks posted on the Russian social media company Max.

Medvedev argued that sanctions had failed to cripple Russia’s economy but acknowledged that “it certainly creates difficulties.”

He accused the European Union of leading the sanctions campaign, saying the US, Japan, Canada and Australia had also undermined the interests of Russian businesses as part of what he described as an effort to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Moscow.

Medvedev said such attempts were “doomed to failure” but required a stronger response.

“I would like to emphasize that we should be talking specifically about active defense,” he said. “It’s not just about sitting in a trench and, so to speak, firing back, but about active defense. Here we need to think about what tools to use in the future.”

He said Russia should continue challenging sanctions through the courts and domestic legal measures while adopting a more systematic approach to protecting the country’s interests and expanding its influence abroad.