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 Both the European Union and United States adopted tighter
restrictions on investments in Crimea this week, targeting
individuals, Russian Black Sea oil and gas exploration and tourism.
The referendum, which Ukraine and Western countries rejected as
illegal, resulted in a 97 percent vote in favor of joining Crimea to
the Russian Federation. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree the
following day to annex the peninsula.
"Introducing new unilateral sanctions against the Republic of Crimea
and the city of Sebastopol by the USA and European Union is a direct
evidence that the West has acknowledged that the decision by the
Crimeans to rejoin Russia was unanimous and voluntary," the ministry
said in a statement.
 "That's why they chose the 'punishment' to be collective," it added.
"It is sad that the countries which call themselves democratic
resort to such methods in the 21st century."
The West slapped sanctions on Moscow over Crimea and stepped them up
as pro-Russian separatist unrest spread to the eastern Ukraine
regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where rebels seeking to split from
Kiev are now fighting government troops.
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Kiev and its Western backers accuse Moscow of fanning the violence
and arming the rebels. Moscow denies the accusations and says it
annexed Crimea only after a local referendum showed most residents
wanted it to become part of Russia.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
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