MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. The West tried to hit Russian citizens themselves with sanctions, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Thursday in his annual government report to the State Duma.

"In the very beginning, the West tried to assure us that the sanctions were not aimed against our citizens. At that time there were no illusions about it, but now even a person far from global politics understands: the main target was the Russian people," the head of the Russian Cabinet of Ministers pointed out.

He explained that the West was trying to bring down the Russian financial system so that people could not use bank cards, and disrupt economic and business ties, forcing their own companies to withdraw from the Russian market, taking huge losses. "They tried to make the products Russians are used to disappear from store shelves, and at the same time throw them out on the street and deprive Russian employees of making money from working at these organizations, that is, those people, whose work created their multibillion-dollar profits. They wanted to cause mass unemployment in our country and radically reduce the quality of life," Mishustin added.

He stressed that Russia's opponents "did not hesitate to use any means." "They blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines, froze bank accounts, cut banks off from the international payment system, and tried to block all banking and economic activities," the prime minister pointed out.

"They used to tell us about the inviolability and sanctity of private property but today, the property and money of our citizens and companies are being seized only because they come from Russia," Mishustin concluded.