MOSCOW, October 28 (RIA Novosti) - Toughening sanctions against Uzbekistan in the wake of this year's Andijan hostage crisis and ensuing unrests is evidence of the double standard policy being pursued by the EU with respect to Central Asian republics, a senior member of the Russian Federation Council said Friday.

Mikhail Margelov, the head of the upper chamber's international committee, said the Andijan events resembled the terrorist attack on Nalchik in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria this October, but was regarded by the West as an instance of massive human right abuses, and suggested the EU was thereby responding to regional organizations' growing influence.