The Russian Embassy called the purpose of the new US sanctions "denigration of objectionable"

The new US sanctions against Russian organizations and citizens are aimed at "denigrating objectionable" and drawing artificial dividing lines between "true democracies" and "autocracies." This was stated by the Russian embassy in the United States in the TELEGRAM channel.

“The new sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities are nothing more than an advertising campaign by the US administration aimed at denigrating “undesirables” by labeling “violators of human rights.” The goals are obvious - to try to exert pressure, to draw artificial dividing lines between "true democracies" and "autocracies," the diplomatic mission said.

Washington is trying to "punish" RUSSIA for its "independent and principled position in international affairs," according to the embassy.

The day before, the United States imposed sanctions on 21 employees of the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) and the presidential administration. Washington suspected them of involvement in the violation of human rights.

The sanctions list includes, among other things, CEC HEAD Ella Pamfilova, her deputy Nikolai Bulaev, secretary Natalya Budarina and others (15 department employees in total). The U.S. said the officials helped run "sham referendums <...> that were rife with cases of overt coercion and voter intimidation" in Ukraine.

Restrictions were also introduced against employees of the presidential administration Oleg Nesterov and Yevgeny Kim, Marina Sereda, who collaborated with the DPR Ministry of Internal Affairs, DPR official Alexei Muratov, and Russians Ochura-Suge Mongush and Lyudmila Zaitseva. The first four were "directly involved in filtration operations," according to the US Treasury Department. Mongush and Zaitseva were accused of violating human rights in Ukraine.

The Russian side denies reports of the creation of "filtration camps" in the Donbass and calls them false. “The press operates on the principle “in the information war, all means are good,” said the Russian Embassy in the United States at the end of March. We are talking about checkpoints for civilians who leave the combat zone. The Russian military is "thoroughly inspecting vehicles heading to safe regions," the diplomatic mission emphasized.

Referendums on the issue of joining Russia were held in the LPR, DPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions at the end of September. According to local authorities, the accession was supported by 98.42% of voters in the LPR, 99.23% in the DPR, 87.05% in the Kherson region and 93.1% in the Zaporozhye region. On October 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed laws on the ratification of treaties on the entry of new regions into the country.