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The European Union summoned Russia's ambassador to the bloc on Monday to condemn Moscow's decision to bar eight officials from entering the country, which the Kremlin said was in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Russian citizens by the EU, Reuters reported. 

The protest is the latest in rising diplomatic tensions since the start of 2021, when Moscow expelled European diplomats during an official visit by the EU's high representative.

The EU has in turn angered Moscow by demanding that Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny should be released from prison, while blacklisting more Russian officials for human rights abuses.

"The Russian ambassador has been summoned, he should be received in the afternoon by the secretary general of the European Commission and of the European External Action Service, where we will convey to him strong condemnation and objection," EU spokesman Peter Stano told a news briefing.

"There is no legal explanation whatsoever for such an action ... the Russian decisions in this regard, all these counter-sanctions, are obviously very politically motivated and lack any legal justification," Stano said.

It is reminded that Russia's foreign ministry said earlier those banned included Vera Jourova, vice president for values and transparency at the executive European Commission, David Sassoli, the president of the European parliament, and Jacques Maire, a member of the French delegation at the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly.