Medvedev on Obama's UN Speech - It Is Mental Aberration

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says that a "reset" of relations with the United States is "impossible" and that ties between the two powers had been damaged by "destructive" and "stupid" sanctions imposed on the country in response for its role in the conflict in neighboring Ukraine.

In an interview with the CNBC aired on Wednesday, Medvedev said any suggestion of a "reset," as suggested by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in September, was out of the question, Censor.NET reports.

"No, of course not. It's absolutely impossible. Let's be clear: we did not come up with these sanctions. Our international partners did," Medvedev said.

Western countries have imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Russia since its annexation of the Crimean peninsula in March, targeting banks, oil producers and defense companies. In response, Russia has imposed retaliatory measures such as banning imports of European and U.S. fruit and vegetables.

Medvedev said the country would overcome the sanctions, and he believed they would be lifted in the near future. But they had "no doubt" damaged relations.

He said he understood former Soviet countries' concerns over Ukraine.

But he felt that the "foundations of international relations" were being undermined by the punishing sanctions. The position was "destructive" and "stupid," he said.

Medvedev expressed dismay at President Barack Obama's speech before the UN General Assembly in which he labelled Russia a key threat, second only to the deadly Ebola virus and ahead of the terrorist threat posed by Islamic State.

"I don't want to dignify it with a response. It's sad, it's like some kind of mental aberration. We need to come back to a normal position, and only after that we can elaborate on how we are going to elaborate our positions in the future," he said.

He said the country hadn't closed its doors to anyone however.

A recent pullback of Russian troops from the Ukraine border was not a signal to the U.S., he said, but an internal decision of the Russian Federation.

"Real life is as follows: we are deeply concerned about the events in Ukraine. We would like the civil war unleashed by the coup earlier this year to end and Ukraine to return to calm and stability," the Russian Prime Minister said.

He stressed that Ukraine could make "any choice," whether it wants to join the EU an another political union.

"Our current goal is to help restore peace in Ukraine," he said, adding that that could only be achieved by negotiations by central and eastern Ukraine.