Sanctions against Russia "blackmail" - Putin
MOSCOW. July 1 (Interfax) - The sanctions introduced against Russia are an instance of blackmail and a manifestation of unilateral policy, President Vladimir Putin said.
"We have been saying all along that sanctions are applied in compliance with Article 7 of the UN Charter. Or they are not sanctions in terms of international law, but something else, a sort of an instrument of unilateral policy," Putin told ambassadors and permanent envoys on Tuesday.
"What else can it be, if not blackmail?" he said while speaking about proposed sanctions against French banks involved in the deal to sell warships of the Mistral class.
Putin assailed the U.S. administration's position on this major military deal. "What has been done to French banks arouses inner indignation - in Europe as a whole, and in this country, as well, I think," the Russian president said.
"We are aware of the pressure our American partners are putting on France in order to derail Mistral ship deliveries to Russia. We also know they made it understood that if Mistral ships are not delivered to us, sanctions will be lifted from the banks step-by-step, or, at least, will be minimized," Putin said.
