The sanctions Washington has imposed on Russia in the wake of the Skripals ‘poisoning’ case put the US outside of the format of international law and make manifest the aggressive and cynical Russia deterrence policy, Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of foreign policy committee in the State Duma lower house of parliament told reporters on Friday.
"The US puts itself outside the format of international legal norms and commonly accepted notions like presumption of innocence or irrefutable evidence this way," he said. "It has simply flushed them down the drain. This is appalling, this looks like a devilish nightmare."
"The tidal wave of sanctions is not receding in any way," Slutsky went on. "Very regrettably, sanctions turn into the main instrument of the upkeep of American hegemony. Washington tries to bolster its increasingly shaky global positions with their aid and to enfeeble its competitors."
"Is it any wonder then that weighty arguments become unneeded as such?" he asked with a somewhat rhetoric note. "Baseless accusations, like the ones in the situation around the Skripals are deemed sufficient and here we have a yet another package of sanctions stemming from argument in the ‘highly likely’ series."
Slutsky said Washington demanded proofs of the non-use of chemical weapons from Russia, although this country was a signatory of the UN convention for the prohibition of chemical weapons and had destroyed it stockpiles of these weapons in practical terms.
"In essence, they tell us, well, prove that you are not four-legged, although it’s not Russia by any means that, excuse me, doesn’t give a damn about international law and common sense," he said, voicing the hope that Moscow would reciprocate timely, relevantly and in an equally powerful manner.