MOSCOW. March 3 (Interfax) - The new anti-Russian sanctions will not benefit relations between the West and Russia, and dialogue should be seen as an alternative to such restrictions, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said.
"Sanctions, whether big or small ones, never improve relations between states. All disputable matters should be addressed through negotiations and through clarifying positions," Gorbachev told Interfax on Wednesday, when commenting on the new sanctions the United States and the European Union have imposed on a number of Russian individuals and organizations.
The Soviet Union and the U.S. "were able to stop the Cold War together not through sanctions but through negotiations," he said.
"Based on existing experience, Euro-Atlantic solidarity should be focused on resolving disarmament problems rather than confrontation," Gorbachev said.