Lawmakers to discuss with diplomats measures of support of Russians in Ukraine

Russia’s State Duma lower parliament house will discuss possible measures of support to Russians living in Ukraine with the senior officials of the Russian foreign ministry and the Russian Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo), Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said.

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky enforced the National Security and Defense Council’s sanctions against the Russian humanitarian cooperation agency, Volga Dnepr Co and 77 more companies.

"We will discuss with the Russian foreign ministry’s and the agency’s senior officials measures that are to be taken in this situation in order not to leave our compatriots and Ukrainian nationals who want to preserve relations with Russia without support," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

He slammed Ukraine’s sanctions as an "example of defiance of international law and common sense." "Ukraine is seeking to mock its patrons as much as it can. Sanctions against a state institution - Rossotrudnichestvo, with its mission of developing international humanitarian cooperation - constitute an unprecedented case," Volodin emphasized.