Havana, September 10 (RHC)-- Cuba condemned a new package of sanctions by Western countries against the Russian Federation, deeming them 'arbitrary and discriminatory.'

At a press conference in Moscow, Cuban ambassador there Gerardo Peñalver, said the new sanctions violate international norms and regulations as they contravene the freedom of trade promulgated by the World Trade Organization.

Relations between Russia and Western countries further deteriorated in the wake of an internal conflict in Ukraine, which resulted in Crimea's separation from Ukraine, following the March 2014 referendum in which over 96 percent of voters supported Crimea becoming a member of the Russian Federation.

Ever since, the United States, the European Union and other western nations have imposed packages of sanctions against Russia.