MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The EU sanctions against Russia cause enormous damage to EU citizens, Dmitry Birichevsky, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of Economic Cooperation, said in an interview with Sputnik.

"The EU continues to call for a further increase in sanctions pressure on Russia. Such a policy of the West is based on logic that is completely divorced from reality," Birichevsky said.

He said Moscow repeatedly noted that the EU restrictive measures are illegitimate and undermine the foundations of international law; among other things, they contradict the interests of the European Union itself.

"They lead to a break in the existing trade and production chains and cause enormous damage to citizens of the EU member states. At the same time, restrictive measures are especially counterproductive in conditions of global economic instability caused by the coronavirus pandemic," the Russian diplomat said.