MOSCOW (Reuters) - A senior Russian diplomat sharply criticized a new round of U.S. sanctions on Monday, saying the measures were illegitimate and uncivilized and that restrictions on high-tech exports from the United States marked a return to Cold War practices.

"We decisively condemn the series of measures that has been announced in an attempt to put sanctions pressure on Moscow," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in comments posted on the ministry's website.

"Unilateral extraterritorial sanctions are by nature illegitimate. They do not just fail to correspond to the norms of civilized interaction between states ... they contradict the demands of international law," Ryabkov said.