Russia slams EU extension of bans as ‘blackmail’
Moscow has slammed as “blackmail” the European Union (EU)’s extension of the sanctions it imposed on Russia after the Crimea Peninsula decided to separate from Ukraine and rejoin the Russian Federation in a 2014 referendum.
“Crimea and Sevastopol (a city located in Crimea) are an integral part of the Russian Federation. It’s time to recognize this as a fact that cannot be changed with methods of economic and political blackmail,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The statement rejected the sanctions as futile and compared the EU’s decision to extend the bans with “historical examples of collective punishment of nations.”
On Friday, the EU extended its sanctions against Moscow over Crimea’s reunification with Russia until June 23, 2016.
Last March, Crimea’s largely Russian-speaking residents voted in a referendum to break away from Ukraine and rejoin Russia. More than 96 percent of participants voted for re-integrating into Russia in the referendum, which was rejected by the Ukrainian government, the US and the EU.
Less than a week after the referendum, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law formalizing the incorporation of Crimea, saying the move was carried out based on international law.
In response, the EU member states imposed asset freezes and visa bans on a number of Russian and Crimean individuals as well as Crimean companies.
As the Ukraine crisis deepened, the 28-nation bloc imposed economic sanctions on Russia over its alleged involvement in the conflict in Ukraine’s east as well as a ban on imports from and investment in the Crimea.
Both the EU and the US have imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia since the outbreak of the crisis in Ukraine last year. In a tit-for-tat measure, Moscow also slapped year-long food bans on the US, the EU, Australia and Canada last August.
Russian and the West are at loggerheads over the tension in Ukraine with the US and its allies accusing Russia of supporting the pro-Moscow forces operating in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin rejects the allegation.
AR/MKA/HMV
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