(VOVWORLD) -In response to the West's latest sanctions package, the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday announced that Moscow expanded the list of European Union (EU) officials and politicians banned from entering the country.
 Illustrative image (Photo: Xinhua/VNA) |
The blacklist included representatives of law enforcement agencies and commercial organisations who provided military assistance to Ukraine, representatives of European institutions involved in the prosecution of Russian officials, and those who gathered material to support the idea of confiscating Russian state assets.
The Russian retaliatory 'stop list' also includes representatives of the Council of Europe, members of the legislative assemblies of European Union countries, members of the OSCE PA (Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) and the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe), the statement said.
On Wednesday, the EU agreed on the 13th sanctions package against Russia related to the special military campaign in Ukraine. This new sanctions package targets nearly 200 Russian entities and individuals.
On Friday, US President Joe Biden announced further sanctions targeting Russia's financial sector, defense industrial base and defense procurement network. According to the US Treasury Department, this is the largest sanctions package the US has imposed on Russia since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out on February 24, 2022.