The former head of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus at the meeting of the Valdai club in St. Petersburg said that the expulsion of Russia from Europe can be a tragic mistake.
"Russia deserves the chance to determine my new story, discover your own path and be an active player in the international arena. Russia and the West, despite differences, can not break off relations with each other, And their conflict is absolutely unnatural ", - transfers words policy RIA " Novosti ".
"The tragic situation in Ukraine, I think the internal Ukrainian problem, not the problem of Ukrainian-Russian relations or the West and Russia," said Former President of the Czech Republic, noting that it upsets the " new era of confrontation Between the West and the East, and, most importantly, Between the West and Russia. Remember, the first day of the week, the EU Council formally extended punishment against Russia for another six months, until 31 January 2016. In addition, on 19 June, the Council of the European Union officially confirmed the extension of sanctions on Crimea and Sevastopol until June 23, 2016. In the Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation said that Moscow is disappointed by the decision of Brussels on the extension of economic sanctions against Russia, noting that the EU is deliberately ignoring the fact that the extension of restrictive measures will result in the loss of jobs to hundreds of thousands of Europeans. The President's press Secretary Dmitry Peskov called the extension of EU sanctions against Russia are unfounded and illegal. And Prime Minister Medvedev D. A. ordered the chief of the government staff Sergei Prikhodko to prepare proposals on the introduction of retaliatory restrictive measures in connection with the extension of the punishment. However, the European economists have estimated damage from the EU attempts of isolating Russia: it will be More than 100 billion euros and 2 million lost jobs. Will suffer Germany, which has lost 27 billion and half a million jobs And GDP will decline by 1%. At the 2nd place Italy with 200 thousand Unemployed and 0, 9% of GDP, on the 3rd France - 150 thousand Jobs and half a percent of the productivity of the economy.

sections: Politics