BUENOS AIRESS, March 3. /TASS/. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that sanctions introduced by Western countries over the Ukrainian conflict are a crime against Russian people.

"What they are doing with the Russian people is a crime. This is an economic war. <...> This is insanity," he said during an address aired by Venezolana de Television on Wednesday.

"Economic wars should end. Problems must be resolved via diplomacy," the Venezuelan leader added.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Following this, the US, the EU, the UK and a number of other countries announced the introduction of sanctions against Russian legal entities and private individuals.