Moscow : Russia Saturday accused the European Union (EU) of curtailing bilateral cooperation over international and regional security issues by imposing new sanction measures against it.
“The new sanction list is a direct indication that the EU countries have chosen the course toward fully phasing out interaction with Russia on international and regional security sphere,” Xinhua quoted the Russian foreign ministry as saying in a statement.
“(It) includes the efforts toward the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, organised crime, and other new challenges and threats,” it said.
The EU reached an agreement Friday to add 15 individuals and 18 entities onto its sanctions list over the Ukrainian crisis.
Among the individuals were Russian Federal Security Service head Alexander Bortnikov and Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov, who were both members of Russian Security Council.
Moscow said that Brussels would “bear the entire responsibility” amid dramatic deterioration of the international situation in such spots as Afghanistan, the Middle East and Northern Africa.
The 28-member bloc was “absolutely hooked” on Washington’s and Kiev’s opinions regarding the events in Ukraine, said the statement.
The fresh sanction marks a total of 87 individuals and 20 entities that were on EU’s lists since March.