LONDON, September 29. /TASS/. Britian’s latest anti-Russian sanctions are attempts to interfere in Russia’s internal affairs, the Russian embassy in London said in a statement shared with TASS.
"We consider the unlawful unilateral restrictions against a number of Russian officials and the Central Election Commission, imposed on September 29, as another legally void and futile gesture by the British authorities. This is not the first arrogant attempt by London to interfere in the internal affairs of our country and impermissibly call into question its territorial integrity," the statement reads.
"With remarkable duplicity the government of the United Kingdom speculates about the legitimacy and credibility of the referendums held a year ago, which laid the democratic foundation for the reunification of the DPR, LPR, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions with Russia. It is of interest to see how this correlates in the eyes of the British with the plebiscite held on the Malvinas (Falkland Islands) in 2013? London seems to consider the results of that referendum sufficient to determine the status of the archipelago. We see this as a clear manifestation of double standards," the Russian embassy said.
It pointed out that "London's maniacal obsession with the illusion that its sanction 'edicts' can influence the determination of Russians to defend the well-being and security of the new regions of their country only testifies to the post-imperial phantom pains and megalomania."
"We call on the British authorities to display a more sober self-assessment and recognition of the realities that have emerged on the ground, no matter how inconvenient they may be for the countries of the West," the statement says.
The Russian embassy in London separately dwelled on the sanctions against the head of the Emergencies Ministry, Alexander Kurenkov.
"Particular hypocrisy was manifested in including in this list the head of the Russian Emergencies Ministry A. V. Kurenkov. The British authorities are well aware that the Kiev regime's militants they sponsor deliberately attack emergency response squads, ambulances and fire-fighters who are called to the zones that come under the Ukrainian military’s bombardments.
"What the local hypocrites [in the British establishment] try to present as 'destabilization of Ukraine' is in fact an example of rescuers’ selfless compliance with their professional duty," the statement reads.
British sanctions
On Friday, Britain expanded its anti-Russian sanctions list to include in it 11 names, adding Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov, the Central Election Commission, State Duma member Alexander Sidyakin, head of the Kherson Region’s government Andrey Alekseyenko, Crimea’s Justice Minister Oleg Shapovalov, deputy head of the Zaporozhye Region’s administration Viktor Yemelyanenko, deputy chief of the LPR head’s staff Igor Babkin, acting deputy head of the DPR government Vladimir Yezhikov, head of the Kherson Region’s election commission Marina Zakharova, head of the Zaporozhye Region’s election commission Galina Katyushchenko, and CEC secretary Natalia Budarina.
The restrictions imply a ban on entering the United Kingdom and on providing trust services, as well as the freezing of assets should any be discovered. The British Foreign Office said in a statement that the sanctions were timed for the anniversary of the referendums in the Donetsk and Lugansk republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions on joining Russia.