Russian Foreign Ministry: Moscow Will Not Leave Hostile EU Actions Unanswered

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The EU sanctions against Russia are negatively affecting lives of Europeans, and Moscow hopes that Brussels will understand that the confrontation with in bilateral relations is not in its interests, Director of the Department of European Cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry Nikolay Kobrinets told Sputnik.

"The EU actions will not be left without response. Hopefully, the EU countries will understand that the confrontation is not in its interests. Brussels' irresponsible sanctions are already negatively affecting the everyday lives of ordinary Europeans," Kobrinets said.

Furthermore, the diplomat rhetorically asked whether the European nations were "ready to pay from their own pockets for further killings of civilians in Ukraine," thus turning Europe from a "region of cooperation and stability" into a zone of conflict.

"I don't think so," he added.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin said back then that the ultimate goal was to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine in order to provide "the protection" to "people who have been subjected to abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years."

In light of this ongoing special military operation, a number of Western countries introduced new comprehensive sanctions against the country. According to the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the Western sanctions are very serious, but Russia was preparing for them in advance.