OREANDA-NEWS. The sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States on Russia and affecting the aviation industry are an attempt to influence Moscow's foreign policy, focused on ensuring legal rights in the field of national security. This was stated by the Director of the Department of Economic Cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Birichevsky in an interview with RIA Novosti.

“These restrictive measures are aimed against a huge civilian industry, jeopardizing the safety of passenger air travel both on domestic and international routes,” the diplomat stressed.

Birichevsky also said that Russia would work out retaliatory trade and financial restrictions in response to Western sanctions.

According to him, continuous work is underway on retaliatory economic measures.

"No one should have any doubts that Russia's reaction will be prompt, thoughtful and sensitive for the recipients," the diplomat stressed.

Birichevsky also said that Moscow is ready to challenge the World Trade Organization (WTO) restrictions against the Russian Federation, which were adopted in violation of the rules and regulations.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had decided to conduct a military special operation to protect Donbass in response to a request for help from the heads of the LPR and DPR.

After that, many states, including the United States, Canada, the countries of the European Union and Japan, imposed sanctions on the Russian Federation. In particular, a number of Russian banks fell under the restrictions, some countries closed their airspace to Russian aircraft, etc.