Putin’s spox says unaware of possible new US sanctions vs Russia

MOSCOW, Apr 10 (PRIME) -- The Kremlin is unaware of a possibility of the U.S. imposing new sanctions on Russia, so it is difficult to speak about any sort of retaliation without any official statements from U.S. President Donald Trump or his administration, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

On April 9, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told CNN that Trump was discussing with members of his administration the possibility of introducing sanctions against Russia and Iran for supporting the Syrian government.

Peskov said: “It is difficult to speak about any reaction without knowing what that is all about, and we actually don’t know what the issue is here. Yes, we had a statement by a U.S. representative, but we heard no statements from Trump or his representatives on the matter.”

On the night of April 6, the U.S. launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the military airfield in Ash Sha’irat. Trump said that the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Syria's Idlib province on April 4, which resulted in the death of over 80 people, an incident which Washington blames on the Syrian government.

The Times reported earlier on Monday that U.K. Foreign Minister Boris Johnson plans to discuss toughening anti-Russian sanctions with other G7 foreign ministers. The daily reported that Johnson wants the G7 to issue a joint statement due to the chemical attack demanding that Russia stops support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and withdraws its troops from the country.

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