Russian Foreign Ministry says EU sanctions "divorced from reality"

MOSCOW - The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday sanctions imposed by the European Union on 12 Russians and Ukrainians on Friday over Crimea were "divorced from reality".

"It's a pity that the European Council made a decision that is divorced from reality," the ministry's spokesman Alexander said in a statement on the ministry's website.

In a separate statement, the ministry said Moscow hoped the decision to send to Ukraine a monitoring mission of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe would help resolve what it called an "internal Ukrainian crisis".