Finance minister says Russia ready for new US sanctions

SOCHI, Feb 14 (PRIME) – Any possible new U.S. sanctions against Russia are unpleasant, but the government is ready to react to them, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters on Thursday.

Late on Wednesday, U.S. senators submitted a bipartisan bill on new sanctions against Russia, including punishment of people responsible for the Kerch Strait incident in November 2018, as well as sanctions against Russia’s banking and energy sectors, and the country’s sovereign debt.

“Of course, all these sanctions are unpleasant, but on the other hand, we’ve created a necessary base to react to them, to be ready for them. We have already passed several stages of these sanctions,” Siluanov said.

Sanctions against debt would hurt many foreign investors interested in the instrument. “It will hit foreigners in the first place. They will shoot themselves in the foot,” he said.

The Russian government and the central bank have created all the necessary buffers to react to sanctions. “This is liquidity, this is state support to banks to prevent problems to depositors, to continue settlements by these banks,” he said.

Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the ministry will consider the possible new sanctions, but added he had no information on the measures.

Central Bank First Deputy Chairman Sergei Shvetsov said that Russia has enough experience of operating under sanctions and the possible negative impact of the new sanctions will be significantly weaker than in 2014.

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