The State Duma reacted to the agreement of the 16th package of sanctions in the EU

The decision by the post envoys of the 27 EU member states to agree on the 16th package of sanctions against Russia corresponds to the EU's desire to hinder the process of peaceful settlement of the situation in Ukraine. This was stated by the first deputy chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Aleksey Chepa, on Wednesday, February 19.

Earlier in the day it became known that the EU representatives agreed on the 16th package of anti-Russian sanctions, RT reports. It is noted that it includes a ban on imports of primary aluminum, reports NSN. According to the Financial Times, the restrictions are going to impose on 13 Russian banking organizations, as well as intend to expand the "black list" of legal entities and individuals, reported on the website kp.ru.

In turn, the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU is toughening the fight against circumvention of sanctions, taking measures against more ships of the "shadow fleet", as well as introducing new bans on imports and exports, according to 360.ru.

Chepa noted that the security situation in Europe has been straining more and more every year, and when the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden came in, things got even tougher. All this led to the crisis and the Special Military Operation (SMO).

"The situation today has shown that the mistakes of many EU leaders have had a very painful impact, first of all, on the economy in their countries and the tensions in Europe and the world as a whole. If today the administration of [US President Donald] Trump openly recognizes the fallacy of Biden's policy and is trying to sort it out, including financial flows, then for many European leaders this situation is very dangerous: they are afraid of revelations, afraid of losing the power they have," Chepa said in a conversation with Lenta.Ru.

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Earlier, on February 16, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the U.S. sanctions against the Russian leadership may not have a significant impact on the negotiations between Moscow and Washington, as such measures can be quickly lifted if desired.

The foreign ministries of the G7 countries adopted a communiqué on the topic of imposing new sanctions against Russia on February 15. Restrictions were linked to the negotiations on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. The foreign ministers said in the document that Russia should allegedly guarantee Ukraine 's long-term security.

On 12 February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov drew attention to the fact that European countries were preparing new sanctions amid the difficult situation in their own economies.