<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday urges the US to withdraw the sanctions it imposed on Russia as their punitive action is causing immense sufferings across the globe.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>"I think that it is justified to retreat from the act of punishing one country which is hurting the people of the whole world,” she said while inaugurating the new building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka.</div><div><br></div><div>The prime minister joined the event virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.</div><div><br></div><div>She said that the US-led sanctions were tantamount to violation of human rights as it is not fair to deprive all humans of their basic rights.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina said it is unfortunate that when the whole world is being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war has brought more miseries.</div><div><br></div><div>"Above all, the US-imposed sanctions have blocked the availability of items that Bangladesh imports,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The transportation cost bas gone up while the pockets of availability of the goods have been shrunk, she said.</div><div><br></div><div>She also said that this is not only for Bangladesh. The USA, Europe, England and the whole world are affected by the sanctions.</div><div><br></div><div>"People are the sufferers. The developed countries should specially think about it," she said.</div><div><br></div><div>In this connection, she said that the US should understand that the sanctions are inflicting pain for their own people too. They also should look into the matter.</div><div><br></div><div>"You want to hurt a country by slapping sanctions. But how much are they affected?" she questioned.</div><div><br></div><div>She said that the people of the other countries from low-income to developing and developed are much more affected by the restrictions. -UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/TR</div><div><br></div>