According to the statement, the EU delivers lethal weapons and promises of money to Kiev, including money that does not belong to it, while silencing the “heinous war crimes that Ukrainian neo-Nazi militants commit on a daily basis and their harassment of the civilian population.”

In response to the new European sanctions, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the EU and “its American sponsors” are responsible for the exacerbation of the food and energy problems in the world with their illegitimate actions.

The EU’s decisions to partially renounce Russian oil and related products and to ban insurance on Russian merchant ships are very likely to cause further price hikes, destabilize energy markets and disrupt supply chains, the statement said.

It further warned that the new barriers imposed on goods from Russia will also affect the supply of agricultural products.

“Such actions are counterproductive: they will undermine the EU’s economy and energy security. They will hasten the looming global food crisis, which Brussels is trying to prevent only by word of mouth.” According to the text published by Russia’s Foreign Ministry, the sixth package of anti-Russian sanctions will have a self-destructive effect on the nations of the community bloc.

It is no coincidence that the European directive took almost a month to force member states to display this “decisive show of solidarity.”

pgh/llp/mem/mml