Russian Foreign Ministry: Russian blacklist carefully verified

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov said the decisions on each EU candidate for the blacklist were taken for a particular reason.

"Our list has been carefully considered. Of course, I will not reveal the decision-making mechanism but on each candidate a separate decision was taken with a particular explanation why these persons have been included on the stop-list," he noted.

The Russian diplomat added that Moscow was deeply disappointed by the actions of the European partners in response to the Russian 'blacklist' of EU citizens who are barred from entering Russia. "I am deeply disappointed by the actions of our European partners in Moscow. Of course, decency is not a political category, but when people already cross all the lines, this arouses only disappointment as to how we can trust such partners," RIA Novosti cited Meshkov as saying.