UNITED NATIONS, September 23. /TASS/. Russia demands that the Western countries immediately lift their economic sanctions targeting Cuba, Venezula and Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the 78th session of the UN General Assembly on Saturday.

"We continue to insist on immediate and full termination the unprecedentedly inhumane commercial, economic and financial blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States, and on removal of the absurd decision to designate Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism," he said. "Without any preconditions, Washington should abandon its policy of economic strangulation of Venezula. We demand that unilateral sanctions, imposed by the United States and the European Union on the Syrian Arab Republic be lifted, as they clearly violate the right for development."

Lavrov emphasized that the West’s policy of imposing unilateral coercive measures constitutes a clear violation of the principle of sovereign equality of states.

"Countries that fell victim to illegitimate sanctions, whose number is growing, are very well aware that restrictions primarily target the most vulnerable social groups, [and] provoke crises on food and energy markets," the top Russian diplomat said.

"Any restrictive measures imposed bypassing the UN Security Council need to end," he said, also calling for an end to the West’s practice of "manipulating the Council’s policy of sanctions in order to exert pressure on undesirables.".