Russia Not Going to Ask Anyone to Cancel Sanctions: Kremlin

Russia is not seeking to have sanctions imposed on the country lifted, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said Thursday.

"We are not going to ask anyone to cancel the sanctions," Ushakov said at a briefing. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shares a similar opinion, saying Wednesday that the lifting of sanctions was solely the decision of the countries that imposed them. Over the past few months, the United States and its allies have introduced several rounds of sanctions against Russia, with the latest batch targeting Russia"s banking, energy and defense sectors.

 The restrictive measures, as the US Department of State put it, were imposed "in close coordination with our EU and international partners" over the "actions that threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine." Russia has repeatedly denied the claims. Earlier on Tuesday, US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said during her visit to Ukraine, that the United States could lift a number of sanctions against Russia provided that agreements on Ukraine's peaceful settlement signed during talks in Minsk are fully implemented.