Russia asked the European Union on Saturday to remove sanctions against Moscow, promising to remove its Western food embargo in return, however a top EU official promptly rejected the request, reported Reuters.
In an effort to punish Moscow for its support of rebels in eastern Ukraine, economic sanctions were imposed in late July and target the country's energy, banking and defense sectors.
Russia responded by banning most Western food imports, worth $9 billion a year, according to Reuters.
"We don't expect anything from our European partners. The only thing we expect is for them to leave the meaningless sanctions spiral and move onto the path of lifting the sanctions and dropping the blacklists," said Russia's deputy foreign minister Alexei Meshkov, according to Interfax.
"This, in turn, would allow us to drop our lists."
The EU imposed additional sanctions Nov. 2 on 13 Ukrainian organizers of rogue rebel elections in eastern Ukraine. Sanctions include asset freezes and travel bans.
When Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March, according to Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the EU, Europe had two options: impose sanctions against Russia or go to war, according to Reuters.
"If you don't want a war the only possibility is sanctions...You have to take sanctions that produce an effect," Juncker said on RTL radio in Luxembourg.
"One has to maintain those sanctions as long as, on the ground, we do not see Russian gestures aimed at pacifying the region."
The sanctions, coupled with low oil prices, will cost Russia between $130 billion to $140 billion per year - about 7 percent of its economy, according to Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
Many Russians are beginning to convert their rubles into other currencies, as Russia's money is falling in value, said Siluanov, according to CNN.
Meshkov said that within the next year, the EU will lose out on about $50 billion due to the sanctions.
Reuters commissioned a report earlier in November that found exports to Russia fell nearly 20 percent in August compared to July.
