Foreign Ministry statement on new US sanctions against Russia

The package of sanctions announced by the US administration (the 101st if we count them all) targets the financial sector and expands the list of individuals facing personal restrictions, in keeping with Washington’s unrelenting attempts to force Russia to change course.

Efforts being undertaken for many years now to hinder the development of the Russian economy have clearly failed, but despite that the United States still has this reflex of turning to restrictive instruments, which are ineffective and counterproductive as far as the United States’ own interests are concerned.

Russia has proven its ability to minimise the inflicted damage regardless of the costs that come with the sanctions. And certainly, the sanctions pressure will not lessen our resolve to firmly stand up for our interests.

We see that blackmail, intimidation, and threats are the only tools the American policy has in its arsenal, trapped as it is in the stereotypes of a unipolar world and a false certainty that the United States still has the right and can impose its own global rules on everyone. This does not work with global powers, primarily Russia and other key international actors. Let its satellites and client states which have completely lost their independence, follow the threatening shouts coming from the United States. At the same time, we are open to diplomacy based on the principles of mutual respect, equality, and taking each other’s interests into consideration.

Make no mistake, we will respond strongly to these sanctions, not necessarily in a symmetrical manner, but the response will be well calibrated and will not fail to affect the United States.