Russia will not request lifting of EU sanctions at Munich conference - deputy PM

Sergei Prikhodko, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Chief of Staff of Government and Chairman of the Organizing Committee of SPIEF 2015, speaks during a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2015 in St. Petersburg, Russia, June 18, 2015. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will not use a conference in Munich to ask European countries to lift their sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict and does not plan to lift its own counter-sanctions for now, a Russian deputy prime minister said on Thursday.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will travel to a security conference in Munich later this week and meet Manuel Valls, the French prime minister, and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister.