Published 13:01 IST, March 3rd 2021
Kremlin says US sanctions 'will not achieve its goal', pledges 'reciprocity' measures
Russia on March 2 said that the Western sanctions are ineffective and further vowed to respond after the EU and the US announced new penalties against Moscow.
- World News
- 3 min read
Russia on March 2 said that the Western sanctions are ineffective and further vowed to respond after the EU and the US announced new penalties against Moscow. While speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that those who continue to depend on these measures (sanctions) should probably give it some thought. Peskov said that the answer will be obvious and added that such a policy does not achieve its goals.
Following the sanctions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said that Moscow would “definitely answer” measures from the west. While speaking at a press briefing with his counterpart from Uzbekistan, Lavrov said that nobody has cancelled the rules of diplomacy, and one of these rules is the principle of reciprocity.
The statement by the Russian officials comes after the US imposed sanctions on seven members of the Russian government, who will have their US assets frozen, and US transactions with them will be subject to prosecution. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday said that the US intelligence community assesses with high confidence that officers of Russia's Federal Security Service used a nerve agent to poison the opposition leader Alexei Navalny. She added that the US’ latest sanctions are an expansion of sanctions under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act.
The Russian statement also comes after the EU slapped sanctions on four Russian officials over Navalny’s arrest. The four officials were Head of investigations Alexander Bastrykin, prosecutor general Igor Krasnov, head of national guard Viktor Zolotov and head of federal prison services Alexander Kalashnikov. As per the new ruling by the 27 state bloc, all four officials would now be banned from travelling to EU states and all their assets in Europe would remain frozen. Additionally, any institution or individual would be forbidden from making funds available to those listed, either directly or indirectly.
Navalny’s arrest
Meanwhile, the Kremlin critic was sentenced to a jail term for violating the terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany. Appearing in Moscow city court, Navalny appealed against his sentence and demanded immediate release, however, the judge only made a small reduction in his prison term and reduced it to a little over two-and-half years, as reported by the Associated Press.
Navalny was arrested by the Russian authorities soon after returning from Germany last month, where he had been since August 2020 for treatment. Navalny was flown to Berlin from Russia last year after he fell ill during a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. Upon landing in Germany, doctors concluded Navalny had been poisoned using Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. Navalny was in a medically-induced coma for almost a month following which he was kept in the hospital for recovery treatment.
Updated 12:58 IST, March 3rd 2021