Zakharova: EU is losing identity under US pressure

The European Union is losing its identity, autonomy and the right to vote under US pressure, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

According to her, the sanctions against Russia "have been introduced exclusively on trumped-up political reasons, which have no actual motive."

"The sanctions policy is absolutely ineffective, a dead-end method, if it is not related to UN Security Council decisions," the diplomat noted in an interview with AiF.ru. "Unilateral sanctions introduced for the purpose of political pressure is a vestige, which I would like to leave in the twentieth century," she added.

"And among other things, a number of European countries are suffering from this situation, it slows down their own economic growth," Zakharova said.

"The European Union has demonstrated the lack of its own voice and identity loss," the diplomat said, adding that she "believed that European policy was stronger." "It is clear that they were pressured by the United States, but it doesn't mean that they should listen to them," Zakharova concluded.