Moscow responds to 11th round of EU sanctions
Russia has “significantly expanded” the number of European Union officials and citizens of member states on its own blacklist in response to yet another ‘package’ of EU restrictions, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow announced on Friday.
EU actions are “illegitimate” and “undermining the international legal prerogatives of the UN Security Council,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Any “unfriendly actions” by Western countries will continue to be met with “a timely and adequate response.”
In retaliation for the latest round of sanctions, Russia has blacklisted personnel of EU law enforcement agencies, “state and commercial organizations” of member countries, as well as EU citizens “involved in providing military assistance to the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev.” That assistance was defined as anything from supplying military equipment and fundraising to providing logistics, intelligence and communications service.
European parliamentarians who are “promoting a confrontational agenda with Russia” have also been blacklisted, the Foreign Ministry said. The full list of sanctioned individuals has yet to be made public, however.
Brussels announced the 11th round of sanctions against Moscow on Thursday, ranging from punishing third countries for trading with Russia and banning additional Russian media outlets to blocking ships suspected of carrying Russian cargo.
The EU has also ordered the assets of 71 persons and 33 entities frozen due to their alleged involvement in “deportation” of Ukrainian children – as the US and its allies have described Russia’s evacuation of civilians from areas under attack by Ukrainian artillery.
The bloc has insisted that its economic blockade of Russia is working and hurting the “war machine” involved in the Ukraine conflict. Moscow has shrugged it off, however, pointing to its drastic increase in trade with China. In May, Russia posted the lowest year-over-year inflation in Europe at only 2.3%, compared to the 7% average for the Eurozone.
