UNITED NATIONS, February 7. /TASS/. The use of sanctions by the UN Security Council as a punitive weapon is unacceptable, Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky said on Monday.

According to the diplomat, sanctions are an essential tool for the UN Security Council to maintain international peace and security. "Being one of the powerful forms of reaction to threats to peace, they should be applied very carefully, be justified and nuanced," Polyansky pointed out. "Their use as a punitive weapon is unacceptable," he underscored.

"International sanctions should reflect the state of affairs on the ground and serve the political process, and sanctions regimes should be regularly reviewed and modified, up to complete abolition," the diplomat noted. "We urge that the target-oriented and flexible nature of the restrictions of the UN Security Council become a constant."

According to Polyansky, it is necessary to pay more attention to the authorities of states under sanctions and to formulate so-called benchmarks more realistically so that they do not turn into obviously impossible tasks.