MOSCOW, September 17 (RIA Novosti) - The United States and the European Union should impose sanctions against each other for supporting Kiev's regime, which broke the truce by firing at OSCE observers, the speaker of the lower chamber of Russia's parliament said Tuesday.
"The armistice is generally upheld, but two days ago, Ukrainian governmental troops shot at a column of OSCE observers, which means that it can be established as a fact that the ceasefire was violated by government forces. In this case, in terms of the sanctions, the European Union should declare sanctions against the United States for supporting the Kiev regime and vice versa," Sergei Naryshkin said during a meeting with Jean-Pierre Chevènement, France's special representative for relations with Russia.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) released a report earlier this week, stating that its observers had come under artillery fire at the MH17 crash site on September 14.
The European Union could play a greater role in de-escalating the Ukrainian crisis, but for the fact that, "the heads of the European Union must remember that they run independent and sovereign states, and not drag, excuse me, after our mutual overseas partner," Naryshkin said.
"It would seem that everyone, I mean the international community and especially Europeans, should do everything to support and sustain the fragile peace and dialogue between the two sides within the Ukrainian conflict. But what has Brussels done about this? Brussels came up with nothing better than to announce a new round of anti-Russian sanctions. It is clear whose pressure it is under," the State Duma speaker stated.
"Does [the European Union] really not realize that with its actions it supports and rallies the so-called war party in Kiev?" he added.
On September 12, the European Union and the United States introduced a new round of sanctions against Russia over the country"s alleged role in the Ukrainian crisis. The measures targeted Russia's largest banks, energy and defense companies.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, and said that sanctions are an ineffective tool which threaten international peace and stability.
