PM: Russia to see expansion of US sanctions as economic war

KRONOTSKY RESERVE, Kamchatka Region, Aug 10 (PRIME) -- Russia may see further expansion of U.S. sanctions as an announcement of an economic war against the country, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday at a meeting with employees of the Kronotsky state reserve.

On August 2, a group of U.S. senators introduced a bill on new anti-Russian sanctions, including sanctions against sovereign debt, Russian state banks, and politicians as well as caps on energy investment and uranium imports.

“I wouldn’t like to comment on talks about future sanctions, but I can say one thing. If we see some sort of a ban on activity of banks or on operations with this or that currency, we will call it straight: an announcement of an economic war. And we will have to react to this war with economic measures, political measures, and other measures if necessary. Our American friends should understand that,” Medvedev said.

Despite words of Western politicians about “bad Russians” and wrong Moscow’s policies, sanctions are aimed at restriction of the country’s economic power, and they really have an impact on the economy to some extent. “There is nothing good in it as different restrictions hurt the economy and have an impact on the ruble dynamics,” he said.

Russia has been operating under sanctions for the past 100 years, nothing has really changed since the Soviet era, he said.

Washington uses non-market and anti-competitive measures against Moscow, like attempts to restrict its imports of natural gas to Europe to make room on the market for the American liquefied natural gas. The U.S. is trying to use similar protectionist measures against China, but no one likes it, “and it is our goal to counter these measures,” he said.

End