MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. The feigned partnership of the European Union and the United States is based only on unbridled Russophobia, and it does not pursue any constructive solutions to any challenges, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Vesti FM radio station on Wednesday.
"This is sort of a quasi-alliance with the EU, sort of a quasi-partnership, with nothing behind it but this feverish, as we like to say, Russophobia. And it’s worthless, because alliances should be focused on constructive, positive goals, and not endless battles against windmills that they themselves draw, imagine and then attack," she said, noting that both parties have violated their international obligations by doing so.
According to the diplomat, the US seeks to depict itself as a champion of justice in the sphere of chemical weapons disarmament. "As an additional part of its contribution to this multilateralism [image] which they now promote, there is a reinforcement of the North Atlantic ranks, and a strengthening of its link with the European Union. This is precisely what they now declare, even on the sidelines of some sort of hybrid Munich [Security] Conference which took place but was so flawed. This is what they declare when they now assemble NATO in various formats, talking about their new strategy and the return to an alliance with the EU," she explained.
On Tuesday, Washington introduced a new round of sanctions over the Navalny case against Director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Sergei Kiriyenko, Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov and four more individuals, as well as a number of enterprises and institutions. The US sanctions particularly include a "denial to Russia of any credit, credit guarantees, or other financial assistance" by US government agencies and a "prohibition on the export to Russia" of security-sensitive goods and technology. On Tuesday, the EU also introduced new restrictions over the situation around Navalny.