Russia’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that the European Union’s 12th package of sanctions against Russia is part of a “hybrid war” being waged by the West and is turning the EU bloc into a “useful idiot” for the US, Reuters reported.

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian FederationPhoto: Oleksandr Zemlanychenko / AP – The Associated Press / Profimedia

“Due to the endless flow of sanctions against Russia, the EU has become a ‘useful idiot’ of Washington,” said Maria Zakharova, press secretary of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Zakharova stated that the United States is using Europe as a “stick” in Washington’s, according to her, “anti-Russian” policy.

Zakharova stated that new EU sanctions will not lead to anything, and Western sanctions have harmed the EU itself.

What are the new EU sanctions against Russia

In its 12th package of sanctions against Moscow, the European Commission proposed to ban the import of diamonds and liquefied petroleum gas from Russia, as well as to strengthen the price limit for Russian oil.

The 12th package of sanctions, which the 27 member states of the European Union will discuss on Friday, also includes a ban on the transit through Russia of goods and technologies that can increase the country’s industrial potential, as well as a ban on the import of a number of metals. .

Agreement on the final sanctions package is expected only after weeks of negotiations, given that it will require unanimous support from all 27 EU states.

If approved, the commission said the proposal would “also impose sanctions on more than 120 additional individuals and entities for their role in undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

This is not the first time that Russia has declared that EU sanctions have the opposite effect against member states. In May of last year, Putin assured that the West would suffer more from the sanctions imposed on Moscow than Russia.

Moscow has accused the West and its partners who joined the sanctions against Russia of “Russophobia”, and there are also voices calling for it to be criminalized in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

After the start of the invasion of Ukraine last year, Russia accused several states of “Russophobia” because of the sanctions imposed against it, their stance on the conflict or the demolition of some Soviet monuments.