“The Russian side emphasized the illegitimate and unjustified nature of such unilateral measures, which can only aggravate the already difficult situation in Russian-EU relations,” the message on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry says.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that such actions will inevitably meet with reciprocal steps from the Russian side.
Earlier, the EU countries agreed on sanctions against Russia in the financial, energy, transport sectors, as well as on visa issues.
Also, EU restrictions for the recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics by Russia came into force, a list of defendants was made public.
The sanctions included Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov, editor-in-chief of Rossiya Segodnya and Russia Today news agency Margarita Simonyan.
Prior to this, the European Union officially adopted sanctions for Russia's recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.
In particular, 351 State Duma deputies fell under the sanctions.