PARIS, September 27. /TASS/. EU countries will introduce sanctions against Russia for holding referendums in the Donbass republics and the liberated territories of the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said at a press conference in Kiev on Tuesday.
"As it has been stated earlier, sanctions will be imposed on Russia for organizing the referendums," she said. According to the French top diplomat, these measures "will be introduced along the lines of the European Union."
She noted that "consultations on a new sanctions package within the framework of the EU are already underway." "It will contain measures against the individuals involved in the organization of the referendums as well as include those spheres previously not covered by the sanctions," Colonna said, calling the referendums "illegitimate."
The referendums on joining Russia kicked off in the Donetsk and the Lugansk People’s Republics and in the liberated areas of the Kherson and the Zaporozhye Regions at 08:00 a.m. Moscow Time on September 23. Voting will continue until September 27. More than 100 international observers from 40 countries, including European states, came to monitor the vote.