The restoration of normal relations and the resumption of interaction between Denmark and the Russian Federation under the current government of the kingdom is excluded, said Russian Ambassador to the Kingdom Vladimir Barbin.
"In conditions when Denmark advocates inflicting military and strategic defeat on Russia, advocates tougher anti—Russian sanctions and opposes our interests in the international arena, the restoration of normal relations is completely excluded," he told TASS.
The Ambassador drew attention to the fact that Copenhagen's aggressive anti-Russian policy led to a reduction in the volume of mutual trade by about 7-8 times compared to 2021.
"An atmosphere of unacceptability of having any trade and economic relations with our country has been established in Denmark. Danish companies that still remain on the Russian market are subject to public harassment. Commodity deliveries from Russia is reduced to a minimum today, Danish companies import only those Russian products that are difficult and too expensive to replace on the European market," Barbin said.
According to him, Russian compatriots are under tremendous pressure.
"Police investigations have been initiated against leaders and activists. Organizations are discriminated against, obstacles are being erected to their normal activities. Priests and parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate are being defamed," the head of the Russian diplomatic mission said.
Barbin also emphasizes that "freedom of expression in Denmark by events on Ukraine has long since sunk into oblivion. A point of view different from the Danish government is considered unacceptable. This applies to everyone, not just our compatriots.
Those who disagree with the Copenhagen course are squeezed out of politics, are deprived of opportunities to teach in Danish educational institutions, and become targets for frenzied attacks in the local media."Speaking about how freely Russian diplomats can work now and how their lives have changed over the past three years, the ambassador said that the diplomatic mission is "isolated by the Danish authorities."
"Contacts with us have been severed, our appeals are ignored. The dialogue continues only on the conditions of functioning and life support of the embassy, which are becoming more and more complex," he said.
The Russian diplomat recalled that due to the decision of the Danish authorities to radically reduce the number of employees of the Russian diplomatic mission, the activities of the trade mission were suspended.
"However, even in the conditions of an acute shortage of personnel, it was possible to partially resume the activity of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Copenhagen," he added.
This situation has greatly affected the work of the embassy: more emphasis has been placed on protecting the rights of compatriots, and taking into account the closure of direct transport links with Russia — and on providing them with consular services in full. "The issues of ensuring the security of the embassy and our employees began to require constant attention," Barbin explained.