US President Barack Obama's apparent campaign to isolate Russia and hurt its economy via sanctions are making international cooperation increasingly difficult.
On Monday, after the G7 summit, Obama promised more sanctions against Russia and stressed that existing sanctions have been hurting the Russian economy. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded to Obama's apparent boasting, which echoed his January speech which claimed that "Russia is isolated, with its economy in tatters."
"This is the first time I see the president of a large country, which considers itself civilized, candidly brag that he did something bad to another people without being at war with them," Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page Tuesday.
"Of course, at this time, gathering in groups of seven or eight and effectively discussing the world’s problems is impossible," Peskov said.
The mood was echoed by a member of Nicolas Sarkozy's party, French parliamentarian Thierry Mariani.
"We stopped cooperation within G8, which has become G7, and now we are suspending inter-parliamentary ties. I believe that this is not constructive," Mariani told French radio station Europe1 on Tuesday.
