MOSCOW, June 22. /TASS/. By imposing new sanctions on Moscow, Kiev is trying to retain the West’s support but its decisions are ridiculous and will not affect the United Russia party, Deputy Secretary of the party’s General Council Sergei Zheleznyak told TASS.

"These strange and ridiculous sanctions that the so-called Ukrainian authorities have imposed on United Russia will affect neither our party’s activities nor our position on foreign policy," Zheleznyak, who is also a member of the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee, said commenting on Ukraine’s expansion of sanctions against Russia. According to him, "these Ukrainian sanctions, which are inadequate from the legal standpoint, are nothing more but a desperate attempt to attract the West’s attention."

The senior lawmaker noted that United Russia was not active in Ukraine and did not have any assets in the country, moreover, it was impossible under the Russian legislation. "So Mr. Poroshenko has once again failed to impress the public by slamming doors," Zheleznyak stressed.

"The Ukrainian authorities have tried all the possible ways to attract the attention of their western sponsors but those seem to have grown tired of Kiev’s unpredictability, bloodlust and larceny," the lawmaker said. In his view, Kiev "is desperately trying to retain the West’s support by taking steps against Russia and intimidating the Europeans by citing the non-existent Russian threat, Russia’s alleged attempts to undermine Europe’s unity in regard to the Nord Stream 2 project and a threat that the EU is allegedly facing because of its cooperation with Russia."

Zheleznyak expressed regret that "in the past several years, Kiev has been unable to understand that by blacklisting Russian citizens and organizations, it will not make the country change its foreign policy." "We will continue insisting that Kiev put an end to its aggression against Donbass and implement the Minsk Agreements. We will also continue to provide humanitarian aid to people who are facing predicaments because of the Ukrainian authorities’ actions," he concluded.

Sanctions on Russian parties

Ukraine earlier blacklisted United Russia and six other Russian political parties, including the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), Rodina (or Motherland), the Democratic Party of Russia, the Agrarian Party of Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Patriots of Russia. Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko signed the expanded blacklist on Thursday.

Kiev said that those parties’ assets in Ukraine would be frozen and capital flight would be banned. Their licenses and other permissions on importing and exporting currency assets have been revoked and restrictions have been put on cash withdrawals using credit cards.