According to Maria
Zakharova, the EU’s new measures once again demonstrate its real attitude to
Crimea’s population.
MOSCOW, May 14.
/TASS/. Moscow reserves the right to give a tit-for-tat response to the
European Council’s decision to blacklist five more Crimean officials, Russian
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday.
"The European
Union’s new measures once again demonstrate its real attitude to Crimea’s
population, to their interests and aspirations. Forgetting the high principles
of democracy and human rights, Brussels is stubbornly seeking to ‘punish’ those
who organized democratic expression of will on the Crimean peninsula," she
stressed. "It looks like that the positive changes in Crimea after 2014
give no peace of mind to EU officials, especially in contrast to the situation
in Ukraine, where people feel deceived by the European Union, which once
promised them a ‘better tomorrow.’"
According to the
Russian diplomat, it is clear to all in the European Union that the
anti-Russian sanctions, which "have turned into ritualistic demonstration
of EU ‘solidarity,’" are futile. "Their only practical outcome is
accumulation of ‘irritants’ hampering mutually beneficial dialogue and
cooperation with Russia," she said.
"The Russian
side reserves the right to give a tit-for-tat response to the European Union’s
yet another unfriendly step," Zakharova added.
On May 14, the
European Council supplemented its blacklist with the names of five members of
Crimea’s and Sevastopol’s election commissions who had organized presidential
elections in Crimea in 2018.
Source: ITAR-TASS
14-05-2018
