MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Mogherini said via a statement earlier in the day that Brussels would continue "fully implementing its non-recognition policy, including through restrictive measures."
"We are surprised by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy’s statement on Crimea on March 18. It is permeated with an arrogant disrespect for more than 2 million people of the Crimean Federal Region," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"Instead of repeating time and again the baseless assertions of so-called ‘human rights violations’ and the ‘annexation of Crimea’, European officials would have been served better to learn more about the real situation in Russian Crimea on the basis of objective facts and direct communication with the Crimeans," it added.
