© Reuters. European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission headquarters, during an EU leaders summit at the European Council headquarters, in Brussels, Belgium December 10, 2020. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
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(Reuters) – Russia’s diplomatic mission to the European Union said on Monday that new sanctions imposed by the EU showed that punitive measures against Moscow had failed.
The new sanctions package, adopted by the European Council on Monday, focuses on a ban on Russian-origin diamonds, imposes additional import and export bans on Russia, and seeks to combat sanctions circumvention and closing loopholes, the EU said.
“The Russian economy is not ‘torn to shreds’, attempts to isolate us on the international stage, including the Brussels platform, have failed miserably, the goal of ‘inflicting a strategic defeat’ has not been achieved,” the mission said in a statement posted online.
The statement said the “vast majority of the measures” contained in the package were “absolutely not needed” and officials in Brussels do not even “bother to explain to anyone the meaning of the sanctions”.
The sanctions, the diplomats said, “include extraterritorial illegitimate restrictions, political backmail, neo-colonial approaches”.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry in Moscow issued no statement, saying only that a response to the sanctions would be forthcoming.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed gratitude to the EU for imposing the new measures, saying they would “truly help reduce the economic foundation” or Russia’s war against his country.
