Penza, 1 April 2016. PenzaNews. Nearly two thirds of the Penza region citizens say the experience no inconveniences due to the Western anti-Russian sanctions, according to the PenzaNews website poll held on 18-31 March 2016, which received votes from 324 users, including 258 from Penza and the region.

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When asked the question: “Did the sanctions by the Western countries against Russia introduce any inconveniences for you or your families?”, 33.95% of the voters chose the option “No, no inconveniences whatsoever,” and 29.32% selected “No, no serious inconveniences.”

However, nearly a fifth of the poll – 19.45% – said they and their families were noticeably inconvenienced by the Western sanctions.

At the same time, 12.96% of the voters chose the option: “Yes, very greatly.”

Moreover, 4.32% of the poll struggled to reply.

The Russian-Western relations experienced a downward trend due to the events in Ukraine.

The US authorities took the initiative in introducing sanctions to enforce international isolation of Russia; the EU countries followed suit, at a risk of economic loss. Later on, a number of US and EU partners also joined the sanctions, which transformed from targeted measures against certain individuals and companies into full-fledged measures against whole sectors of Russian economy.

In return, Russia retaliated with introducing a selective food embargo against the United States, EU countries, Canada, Australia and Norway – the countries that imposed the sanctions.