Russia vows to respond to new EU sanctions

MOSCOW - Russia will "certainly" react if the European Union (EU) imposes new sanctions against it for allegedly "destabilizing eastern Ukraine," the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

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"Concerning the new list of EU sanctions, reactions will certainly be made by Russia if they are implemented," the ministry said in a statement.

The EU on Friday expressed the intention to formally adopt on Monday a new package of restrictive measures against Russia designed "in view of Russia's actions destabilizing eastern Ukraine."

The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the announcement of the upcoming expansion of anti-Russian sanctions was the EU's first reaction to Friday's talks in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.

At the Minsk meeting, also attended by representatives from Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Ukraine's government and insurgent leadership signed a ceasefire protocol, which took effect later in the day.

"The EU authorities are practically sending the signal of direct support of the 'party of war' in Kiev, which is not satisfied with the outcomes of the Minsk meeting," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying.

"Instead of desperately searching for ways to bring more pains to the economies of its member countries and Russia, the EU should better support economic revival and recovery of life in Ukraine's Donetsk and Lugansk regions," said the ministry

The Minsk deal has brought forth a glimmer of hope to end to the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine. Armed clashes in the region, starting in March, have claimed at least 2,600 lives.

In July, the 28-member EU agreed for the first time on broad sanctions against the Russian economy -- a package of restrictive measures targeting Russia's finance, defense and energy sectors, and blacklisted dozens of individuals close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.