The head of the International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council considered that “the sanctions of the United States of America against us are a crazy escalation of tension between countries and parliaments”, and said that the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to join NATO “looks like a call for confrontation between the alliance and Russia”.

Earlier, the US Treasury and State Department announced the introduction of new sanctions against Russia “due to its illegal annexation of parts of Ukraine”, namely the Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporozhye regions, noting that it includes political figures and military figures in Russia and Belarus.

She stressed that the sanctions target “international suppliers supporting the Russian military industry”, as well as “the head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, his deputy and relatives of members of the National Security and Defense Council of Russia.”

On the other hand, Zelenskiy emphasized after a security meeting with the leadership of the Ukrainian army that “we have taken a decisive step by signing Ukraine’s request for rapid accession to NATO”, stressing that “Ukraine will not negotiate with Russia until Russian President Vladimir Putin is its president.