BREAKING NEWS

Russian Foreign Ministry says EU sanctions 'divorced from reality'

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday sanctions imposed by the European Union on 12 Russians and Ukrainians on Friday over Crimea were "divorced from reality".

"It's a pity that the European Council made a decision that is divorced from reality," the ministry's spokesman Alexander said in a statement on the ministry's website.

In a separate statement, the ministry said Moscow hoped the decision to send to Ukraine a monitoring mission of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe would help resolve what it called an "internal Ukrainian crisis".