BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — The European Parliament announced on Tuesday a number of restrictive measures against Russian diplomats and lawmakers in response to the blacklist of European politicians and officials recently introduced by Moscow.
"Following the publication of the blacklist of European politicians and officials, the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, today informed the Russian Ambassador to the EU [Vladimir Chizhov] that insofar as the Russian authorities have failed to ensure transparency in their decisions…he considers that it is now justified to take appropriate measures in response," the EU Parliament said in a statement.
The statement said that, pending the lifting of the blacklist, the EU legislative body "is restricting free access to Parliament to the [Russian] Ambassador [Chizhov] and one other named diplomat, assessing requests for access by Members of the Duma and the Federation Council on a case-by-case basis, and suspending Parliament's engagement with the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee."
The the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that the blacklist is a response to EU and US anti-Russia sanctions.
Since Russia's reunification with Crimea and the beginning of Ukrainian armed conflict in 2014, the European Union, the United States and some other Western nations have issued travel bans to a number of Russian individuals, as part of broader sanctions over Moscow's alleged involvement in the Ukrainian conflict.
