Updated on 6:33 p.m. Moscow Time
DUSHANBE, September 12 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin reacted to new sanctions imposed by the European Union by calling them not effective.
"Russia's stance on the issue is well known. We are convinced that using sanctions as an instrument of foreign policy is not effective and never yields any results, even in relation to small countries, not mentioning such a large country as Russia," Putin stressed.
According to the Russian president, "sanctions always cause certain damage, including to those who use this instrument."
On Friday morning, new European Union sanctions against Moscow over its alleged role in the Ukrainian crisis came into force. New restrictive measures target three major Russian oil companies and three major defense companies, as well as several other entities and 24 individuals.
Over the past few months, the United States and the European Union have already introduced several rounds of targeted sanctions against the Russian economy, unjustifiably blaming Moscow for meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs.
Russia was forced to respond with a ban on certain food imports from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway.
On Thursday, Kremlin confirmed that Moscow has prepared a package of retaliatory measures to new Western sanctions. The measures will include restrictions on imports of cars and textile products.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Ukrainian conflict and said that sanctions are ineffective, "threaten international peace and stability" and run counter to the principles of international law.
