Russia Says Will Retaliate New US Sanctions

The Trump administration announced a new round of sanctions against Russia on Wednesday in a move that sent the ruble tumbling and ignited fears of a tit-for-tat economic battle.

The sanctions were signed off in response to the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on March 4, which the US explicitly blamed on Russia, Staronline reported.

Russia has warned the United States that ramping up sanctions would be a “declaration of economic war” and would be responded to by “other means”.

The Russian Embassy in the US called the measures “draconian” and Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they were “illegal” and “absolutely unfriendly”.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow would take retaliatory measures if Washington targeted Russian banks. “I would like not to comment on the talks about future sanctions, but there is one thing I can say: if measures like a ban on banking activities or the use of this or that currency follows, this can be clearly be described as a declaration of an economic war,” Medvedev said during a visit to Russia’s Far East Thursday.

“And this war will have to be responded—by economic, political and, if necessary, other means. And our American partners should realize this.” Medvedev said the sanctions are an attempt to “limit the political power” of Russia by the US.

“In the past hundreds of years, our country existed in the conditions of the constant pressure of sanctions. Why is this being done? In order to eliminate Russia from the list of powerful rivals on the international arena,” he added.

Irina Yarovaya, deputy speaker of the State Duma, accused the US of “masterminding” the nerve agent attack on the Skripals as a pretext for announcing more sanctions. “The US has unmasked itself as the mastermind behind the cheap show to stage the poisoning of the Skripals,” Yarovaya said Thursday.

“The curtain has been drawn, it reveals who directed and masterminded this provocation. These gentlemen are by no means first-timers in the criminal sanctions aggression.”

A fresh round of economic sanctions is to come into force on August 22 as punishment for Russia’s violation of international law.