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Russia vows to take "adequate response" to new EU sanctions

Xinhua, February 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

Russia vowed to take "adequate response" to the expanded EU sanctions imposed on it over the Ukraine crisis, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday.

"One thing is clear that these decisions would be followed by Russia's adequate response," the ministry said in an online statement.

The new EU sanction list, which came into effect on Monday, placed restrictive measures on 28 Russian citizens or organizations, including First Deputy Defense Minister Arkady, Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov and the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Andrei Kartapolov.

The ministry accused the EU of standing with Kiev's "party of war" without "critically and impartially" analyzing the real causes of escalation of the situation in southeastern Ukraine.

The new round of sanctions looks "illogical and inconsistent", the ministry said, especially when ceasefire agreements were reached in Belarusian capital of Minsk on Feb. 12 with direct participation of German and French leaders.

"It seems like the EU has no more control over the sanctions pendulum or its member states' attempt to persuade the public of a wishful thinking that Russia has become more compliant as a result of the sanctions," it said.

"These sanctions contradict common sense and won't facilitate the emerging possibility of solving the Ukrainian domestic conflict," according to the ministry.

Currently, the conflicting sides in Ukraine have generally observed the ceasefire in line with Thursday's Minsk peace agreement, which also covered withdrawal of heavy weapons, border control and prisoner exchange. Endi