MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. The new sanctions regime against Russia, which was approved by the EU Council, is illegitimate, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

"This is yet another sanctions regime, illegitimate from the perspective of international law. It targets Russian individuals and entities who are allegedly responsible for destabilizing actions abroad," the diplomat stated.

According to Zakharova, the West no longer needs any reason to impose sanctions. "We also know, and we have been talking about this for quite a long time, that Brussels has long ago lost political independence in its sanctions policy, acting in Washington's fairway. The significantly expanded list of grounds for imposing sanctions against Russia increasingly resembles the regime that was introduced by the US back in April 2021," she pointed out.

"Essentially, European officials have created a new regime through which they are trying to hold Russia responsible for all the problems that they were unable to solve themselves," the spokeswoman added.