State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said that Western sanctions against Russia and Belarus are the result of its contempt towards ethnic Slavs, the Interfax news agency reported today.

“This is beyond logic,” Volodin said, adding "those who stand behind these sanctions can be suspected of conspiring against Slavs.”

The statement comes after U.S. President Donald Trump proposed extending sanctions against Belarus yesterday and U.S. senators reached a bipartisan agreement on the extension and expansion of sanctions against Russia.