RUSSIA IMPOSES ENTRY BANS ON 8 OFFICIALS FROM EU MEMBER-STATES

Russia has placed entry bans on eight officials from EU states, including European Parliament President David Sassoli and European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova, Russia's Foreign Ministry says, Christian Thiele reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Berlin's chief state prosecutor, Joerg Raupach, is also on the blacklist, a tit-for-tat response to the European Union's decision in March to slap entry bans on high-ranking Russian officials for their role in the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Russia once again criticized Brussels' punitive measures and accused it of fomenting anti-Russian hysteria.

"The EU continues the policy of illegitimate unilateral sanctions against Russian citizens and organizations," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the TASS news agency.

"Only in March 2021, six Russians were subjected to unlawful EU restrictions. This practice contradicts the UN charter and the basic norms of international law. It is accompanied by anti-Russian hysteria, deliberately spread by the Western media," it said.

Jourova, the commission's vice president for values and transparency, has in the past been critical of disinformation and fake news coming out of Russia, while Sassoli has spoken on several occasions about Navalny's plight.

Sassoli did not seem impressed by the sanctions.

"Apparently, I'm not welcome at the Kremlin? I had suspected it a bit...," he wrote on Twitter.

"No sanctions or intimidation will stop the [EU Parliament] or me from defending human rights, freedom, and democracy. Threats will not silence us. As Tolstoy wrote, there is no greatness where there is no truth," he added.

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