MOSCOW, February 24. /TASS/. Washington humiliates the European Union by imposing political decisions that run counter to Europe’s interests, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Channel One’s Vremya Pokazhet (or Time Will Tell) show.
"We can see that the European Union, a significant part of Europe, is being humiliated. By whom? By those who impose their interests on others, which run counter to the national interests of those nations. <…> By those who pursue a certain policy, which is being foisted on the European Union primarily by Washington," she noted.
"EU countries don’t benefit from it; we don’t benefit from it either because the European Union used to be our biggest trade partner, our partner in terms of humanitarian ties and energy partner. Moreover, we used to build relations for the sake of the future. These relations were supposed to be even more meaningful and important," the Russian diplomat added.
The European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell announced earlier at a press conference following an EU Foreign Ministers meeting that a decision had been made to impose new sanctions on individuals whom the EU deemed responsible for the "arrest, sentencing and persecution" of blogger Alexey Navalny. According to Borrell, the sanctions will be introduced under a human rights sanctions mechanism.