MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Russia’s International Affairs Committee chairman Konstantin Kosachev has described Ukrainian sanctions against officials, parliamentarians and journalists from Russia and other countries as "another foolishness."
"Another foolishness. The presidential mission is to solve problems, not to play-act and make the country play-act," Kosachev wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday.
Any sanctions are a dead end, he added noting that "they do no solve anything, and in such cases — only exacerbate problems." "Responsibility for all Ukrainian grievance lies with Kiev that again and again chooses escalation of emotions and actions instead of reconciliation and accords," the lawmaker said.
Kosachev also expressed surprise over the fact that he was included in the sanctions list as head of Rossotrudnichestvo government agency though he left this post nine months ago. "A child could have been born while Ukrainian strategists were pondering. And it is not about swiftness but rather about unawareness, then the level in incompetence of those who governs Ukraine today should finally alarm Ukrainians themselves," the senator wrote.
On the other hand, Kosachev noted, since sanctions are introduced against him "as a Russian parliamentarian then there is still a chance for inter-parliamentarian dialogue with Ukraine." "And it is our mission, which we are ready for here in the Federation Council," he stressed.
Kosachev noted that he is content with Ukrainian authorities’ assessment of Rossotrudnichestvo activities. "[Ukrainian President Pyotr] Poroshenko’s verdict confirms that our ideas on promoting the Russian language, Russian education and our national culture in Ukraine that the agency has been generating over all this time, are effective and they work," he said.
Ukraine’s sanctions against companies and officials
On Wednesday, Poroshenko approved Ukraine’s sanction list against 105 companies. Among them are Russian flag carrier Aeroflot and other air carriers Transaero, Ural Airlines, Siberia and Orenburg Airline, Gazpromavia Airline, Gazprombank, Bank of Moscow, antivirus software producer Kaspersky Laboratory and its Ukraine’s subsidiary.
The list includes the Novorossiya civil movement, the Oplot organization, the Prizrak and Somali brigades as well as a number of charity Christian foundations.
Poroshenko also approved the inclusion of 388 people in Ukraine’s sanctions list, including Alexander Brod, director of the Moscow-based human rights bureau and a member of the Council for Civil Society Development and Human Rights operating under the Russian president; Russian president’s adviser, Sergey Glazyev; Russian Children’s Rights Ombudsman Pavel Astakhov and Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Russian Federation Council Committee for International Affairs.