'Dear James, you don't understand': Russia responds to UK Foreign Min's take on sanctions

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova took to Telegram late on Monday to snap back at United Kingdom Foreign Secretary James Cleverly's remarks after the latter was sanctioned by the Russian government. Cleverly on Monday said that he was glad to be sanctioned by Russia, if it meant "supporting the freedom of Ukraine".

Cleverley took to Twitter announcing his sanction by the Russian government. “The Russian government imposed sanctions against me. Good. If this is the price to pay for supporting the freedom of Ukraine, then I am glad to be under sanctions," he tweeted.

In reponse, Zakharova, on her Telegram channel, mocked him and said that those sanctions were in exchange of UK's sanctions that were "anti-Russian". She wrote that Cleverly was still to answer for his support to Ukraine calling it "the support of the Kyiv regime and neo-Nazism".

"Dear James, you don't understand. This is for the anti-Russian course and personal sanctions. But it remains to be answered for the support of the Kyiv regime and neo-Nazism," she said on Telegram. Russia has time and again claimed that it was 'liberating' Ukraine from neo-nazism while defending its "special military operation".

Russia imposes sanctions

The Russian Foreign Ministry, last week, announced sanctions against 36 British citizens, including members of the UK government, members of security and law enforcement agencies, and journalists, as per a report by BBC Russian. The move is in response to what the ministry called "the anti-Russian course of the British government, which continues to actively apply the mechanism of personal sanctions and conducts an intensive propaganda campaign to discredit our country and isolate it in the international arena".

The ministry did not release a list of names of those subject to the sanctions, but it is believed that it includes individuals who have spoken out against Russia's actions in Ukraine and its human rights record.

This is not the first time that Moscow has imposed sanctions on British citizens. Since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has announced sanctions against hundreds of British citizens in response to London's stance on the war. The move by the Russian Foreign Ministry has been widely criticized by the international community. Many have called for the sanctions to be lifted, arguing that they are an attempt to silence dissent and restrict freedom of speech.