MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. A host of sanctions imposed against Russia exceeded the number of 6,000 and their aim was to inflict damage on every Russian, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Thursday.

He noted that even during the period of the pandemic the pressure on Russia did not soften in a single day "however, new sanctions followed this year and they are of an unprecedented scale."

"The number of restrictions exceeds the numbers of all other restrictions ever imposed on any other country. There are over 6,000 of them already," Mishustin said having stressed that he meant both individual and sectoral sanctions.

"But the most important is that they are aimed against all citizens. Our former partners actually competed with each other, who would be the first to adopt restrictive measures, issuing them almost every day. The prime aim was to create panic and deliver a strike against every citizen," the prime minister said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine, stressing that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Western countries responded to the actions of the Russian authorities by slapping sanctions against physical and legal entities.