Moscow: Washington’s expansion of anti-Russian sanctions “gift” to Ukraine presiden

MOSCOW - 22 June 2017: The new sanctions imposed by the United States against Russia over the situation in Ukraine are a “political gift” to Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, Kyiv Post quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Wednesday.

“On June 20, Washington announced a new significant expansion of the US sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities. It is obvious that this is a political gift to Poroshenko who is currently in the US,” Ryabkov said in a commentary on the ministry’s website.

“The sanctions were introduced under the old pretext of events in Ukraine. The foolishness of this motivation is obvious, especially now that Americans have effectively blamed, among others, a Moscow bike center and a well-known catering company for the Ukrainian crisis. The absurdity of this sort of decisions would only be comparable with last year’s placement on the US sanctions lists of the Chaika outdoor pool in Moscow,” Ryabkov said.

“Washington is bound to understand that such escapades only encourage the party of war in Kyiv, which has long sought to derail the peaceful settlement of the Donbas conflict,” Ryabkov said.