MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's criticism of Russia's decision to lift a ban on deliveries of S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Iran is "strange", a Russian Foreign Ministry source said on Wednesday.
"We cannot accept these reproaches targeting Russia's decision to end its voluntary postponement of deliveries of these absolutely legal systems to Iran," he said.
"Such remarks appear to be even more strange in light of Berlin's obsession to follow in Washington's footsteps and use illegal unilateral restrictions as an instrument of foreign policy," the source said.
"We have always reaffirmed the need for the international community to take collective and coordinated measures with regard to sanctions policy, including respect for the prerogatives of the UN Security Council. And when the U.S. and EU members, including Germany introduced illegal unilateral sanctions against Iran in defiance of this principle, neither the German chancellor nor any other Western leader thought of the need to act collectively," he said.