“The American democracy is clearly being degraded. [Its only] desire is to ensure by all means that US global hegemony remains, including pressuring countries that conduct an independent line and speak [with] their own voice, unlike Washington’s NATO allies,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Moscow said the new US restrictions will be faced with “a firm response,” urging Washington to “swiftly give up on the illusion that one can communicate with [Russia] using the language of sanctions.”
“Politicians in Washington have reached such a level of absurdity that they are trying to target our companies that have long maintained business ties with the US and have thousands of jobs depending on them. In other words, they strike ordinary Americans, their own voters, and destroy economic cooperation in a self-defeating manner,” the statement reads.
“There is a feeling that we are witnessing the re-birth of America,” the Foreign Ministry said, pointing out that US authorities were rapidly “renouncing what they themselves used to hail as fundamental ‘American values.’”
www.rt.com/news/423439-russia-sanctions-response-foreign-ministry/
In total, 24 Russians and 14 entities were put on the list, including in particular Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, as well as the head of the Russian Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee, Konstantin Kosachev. The sanctions also targeted Russian billionaires such as Oleg Deripaska and Alexey Miller.
Dzhabarov called the US move “outrageous” and said that it is a manifestation of Washington’s “powerlessness” and “psychosis,” fueled by the fact that many of the US’ recent political projects, including its operation in Syria and attempts to find evidence of Russia’s interference in the 2016 US election, have failed. The senator pointed out that these actions undertaken by the US can only lead to a further escalation of tensions between Moscow and Washington, and possibly even a deadlock.
“This is a dead end track. Russia is not to be scared, not to mention broken, by [these measures],” Kosachev said. His words were echoed by the deputy head of the Russian State Duma, Pyotr Tolstoy, who also said that sanctions would “bring no results,” but would only “lead to worsening of the already strained relations between the two countries.”
Attempts by the US to impose its will on Russia and force it to abandon independent foreign policy is doomed to failure both diplomatically and politically, Tolstoy said. At the same time, Moscow will not leave such hostile measures unanswered.
www.rt.com/news/423428-us-sanctions-russia-reaction/
h/t beer