New | Russia says new US, Canada sanctions will fuel further unrest in Ukraine
Foreign Ministry statement says “Crimea is the original and inseparable part of Russia" and additional sanctions levied by Washington and Ottawa will only make the situation worse
The latest round of sanctions by the United States and Canada hamper efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.
“The sanctions are directed to disrupt the political process,” the ministry said in a statement following the announcement of the latest measures on Friday.
“We advise Washington and Ottawa to think about the consequences of such actions,” it said, adding: “we will start to develop counter measures.”
US President Barack Obama issued an executive order on Friday prohibiting trade with the Black Sea Crimean peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in March.
Additionally 24 individuals and entities were added to the US Treasury blacklist – people from Crimea and separatist leaders involved in fighting in eastern Ukraine as well as several Russians supporting the insurgency.
Canada meanwhile slapped fresh measures on Russia’s oil and gas sector and issued travel bans on several politicians in Russia and the separatist regions.
“Crimea is the original and inseparable part of Russia. Residents of Crimea today are together with the Russian people, who never have and never will bend under external pressure,” the statement said.
Instead of helping regulate the conflict, the sanctions “support Kiev’s ‘party of war’,” it said, referring to Ukrainian officials who oppose negotiating with separatists.
Kiev is now preparing for a new round of talks with representatives of the self-proclaimed “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Lugansk, the latest effort to put an end to fighting that has killed over 4,700 people since April.
