Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova, Moscow
By Guido Lanfranchi.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has accused the United States of imposing its last round of sanctions over fake charges. Recently, the US administration had targeted Russia with a batch of economic restrictions, on account of Russia’s alleged involvement in the Skripal case.
On August 9th, Russia’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova discussed the most recent set of restrictions imposed by the United States on the Russian Federation. Firmly condemning the US administration’s decision, Ms. Zaharova denounced that “the Skripal poisoning case was chosen as the trumped-up pretext,” in spite of the “absence of any evidence whatsoever.”
Over the previous two days, the US State Department had announced that it would impose a new round of sanctions on Russia , on account of its alleged responsibility in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. A Senior US State Department Officials has declared that the imposition of such measures had been triggered in mid-March, when British officials presented some evidence on Russia’s responsibilities to their US counterparts, who swiftly concurred to the findings.
However, in a briefing with the press, Ms. Zakharova not only claimed that the UK has by now failed to present any evidence of Russia’s involvement, but she also accused the British government of refusing to collaborate with Russia on the investigation.
Describing the newly imposed US restrictions on Russia, Ms. Zakharova stressed that the demands made by the US for the sanctions to be lifted are “patently unacceptable” to the Russian government. Moreover, the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson openly accused the US of “deliberately seeking to further aggravate bilateral ties that have already been reduced to zero through its own efforts.”
The goal of these new sanctions – Ms. Zakharova said – is to “continue demonising Russia” and to denigrate the country in front of the international community. These efforts look “utterly cynical” – the Spokesperson stressed – if one considers that the US has by now failed to destroy its chemical warfare arsenals, something that Russia has done last year to comply with the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Ms. Zakharova also accused the US of “unconcealed hypocrisy,” on account of the inconsistency between the US declarations of goodwill towards normalizing bilateral US-Russia ties, and the US moves, such as the recent sanctions, which seem to have the opposite aim.
Towards the end of the briefing, Ms. Zakharova finally stressed that threatening Russia and setting ultimatums to its government is “futile and pointless.” The Russian government – she declared – will consider apt countermeasures to respond to the US move.
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For further information:
http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/3316569
US to impose a new set of sanctions on Russia over the Skripal case
