MOSCOW, February 11./TASS/. Moscow cautions Brussels against new sanctions against Russia, warning that it will retaliate, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday.

"We would want to warn our EU partners against a new incautious step," Zakharova stressed in comments on possible new sanctions against Russia, adding that a tit-for-tat answer "will follow inevitably. "It is absolutely unacceptable to use human rights and refer to democratic principles as a geopolitical instrument," the diplomat emphasized.

Maria Zakharova noted that this decision of the European Union would look specifically cynical against the background of "total disregard by Brussels" of violations of rights of Russian-speaking population and Russian-language media in EU countries, as well as crackdown on protest movements in EU member countries.

"Globally, this is fraught with growing arbitrariness in international relations and basically with an erosion of international law," she went on to say. "Once again, we reaffirm our fundamental position that it is unlawful to impose unilateral restrictions in bypassing the UN Security Council," she said. "We urge the EU to return to equitable constructive dialogue and to look for workable compromises that would ensure the balance of interests through the existing diplomatic channels that always remain open," she summed up.

Bloomberg reported on Thursday referring to two European diplomats that the European Union had begun to discuss new sanctions against Russia in connection with opposition blogger Alexey Navalny.