Russia firmly rejected the outrageous sanctions imposed on Syria on July 23, which included a virtual call for acts of war on the high seas by mandating searches of all vessels suspected of delivering weapons to Syria. Moscow warned it will not consent to inspections of ships traveling under its flag. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich said: "We will not consider requests and give consent to the search of ships sailing under the Russian flag, nor to the use of other restrictive measures," according to a statement released by Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday.