"I don’t think that sanctions on Russian individuals will last long," Frassa said. According to him, if such measures do not produce results, they "become counterproductive."

MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. The European Union’s sanctions against Russian individuals cannot last long as they are counterproductive, head of the French Senate Committee for the European Affairs Christophe-Andre Frassa said at a meeting with Chairman of the Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Committee for Foreign Affairs Konstantin Kosachev on Monday.

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"I have many times told the European and Russia media that sanctions against Russian individuals hinder dialogue," the French senator went on to say. "The situation would be right if these people could sit at the negotiating table and discuss the development of relations between Russia and the European Union," he added.

"Unfortunately, this point of view is shared by few people, there are not many of us who think so. But I will say that every time it is useful to promote this view," Frassa concluded.

Yves Pozzo di Borgo, the president of France’s Jean Lecanuet Institute, the former deputy chair of the Senate Committee for the European Affairs, a member of the Senate Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces, also attended the meeting. He handed a report over to Kosachev, which is dedicated to relations between the European Union and Russia. "I hope that it will prove interesting to you," Pozzo di Borgo said.

In 2014, the European Union imposed sanctions on Moscow over the situation in Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. Visa waiver negotiations and talks on a new cooperation agreement were suspended. Some Russian officials were barred from entering EU counties, their assets were frozen. Besides, trade, financial and military restrictions were also introduced. A total of 151 individuals and 37 companies were blacklisted. Sanctions have been repeatedly extended and expanded.