MOSCOW, November 23. /TASS/. The Collective West has hit Moscow with over 17,500 sanctions to date, Dmitry Birichevsky, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department of Economic Cooperation, said.

"In its hybrid war against Russia, the Collective West gives a special role to unilateral restrictions. Their number has exceeded 17,500, which is unprecedented," the diplomat pointed out, addressing a roundtable titled "Countering Economic Sanctions and Other Threats from the Collective West," which was hosted by the Federation Council (Russia’s upper house of parliament).

Birichevsky also noted that the goal of this campaign was to undermine Russia’s economy and make the country’s political leadership abandon its independent foreign policy, primarily stopping Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine.

"However, an experienced observer could see from the very start that this idea would not work," the diplomat added. "A dangerous trend has emerged where trade restrictions are introduced under the excuse of combating climate change," he went on to say. "Three to four years ago, the West was still cooperating with us [on climate issues], engaging us in efforts to combat climate change, even though we had disagreements on Crimea, but now, they are cutting us off from this process, too, trying to set their own rules," Birichevsky stressed.