The economic sanctions imposed by the United States are a revenge on Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

"There is an impression that the American sanctions have only one aim: to get even with Russia for our independent policy which is inconvenient for the U.S.," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry warned that Washington will strongly feel real losses brought by its "unsubstantiated and illegitimate" sanctions.

"Such decisions by Washington will only further complicate Russian-American relations and create an unfavorable atmosphere for international affairs, since interactions between the two countries often play a decisive role," the Itar-Tass news agency quoted the ministry as saying.

As the European Union (EU) approved tougher sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama also swiftly announced new penalties targeting key sectors of Russia's economy.

Moreover, the ministry refuted as "bewildering" Obama's accusation that Russia is not cooperating with international investigation of the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 crash.

"Russia was one of the first countries that gave its objective data over the crash, while the U.S. has still not provided any facts, except for groundless accusations and data collected from social networks," ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

He added that Russia received the invitation to participate in the investigation of the crash just several days ago and appointed representatives immediately.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday during his visit to Tajikistan that the Kiev authorities, as well as a number of Western countries, have been preventing international experts from beginning their work at the crash scene, which grossly violated the United Nations Security Council resolution adopted on July 21.