Russia, unprecedented warning for the US: 'We still have similar measures in our arsenal' as a response to sanctions...

Russia, unprecedented warning for the US: 'We still have similar measures in our arsenal' as a response to sanctions

Russia still has measures that it can take against the US as a response to sanctions, but it keeps it for now, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov said, according to an interview published on Izvestia newspaper Monday,
Bearing tense tensions over Syria, Ukraine and the US accusations that Russia intervened in the 2016 presidential campaign, which Moscow denies, the ties between the two countries have reached the Cold War level.

The US Department of Finance published a list of 210 people last week, including 96 "oligarchs" worth $ 1 billion or more, considered to be close to the Kremlin regime as part of a package sanctions approved in August last year.

Finance Minister Steven Mnuchin said the report would include unspecified sanctions.
Riabkov told Izvestia that Moscow had previously retaliated against the US, suspending nuclear agreements, expanding the list of US politicians whom they consider anti-ruse and ordering half of US embassy staff in Russia to leave.

'We still have similar measures in our arsenal,' said Riabkov. "But their possible activation is the subject of a separate political decision," the Russian official said.

Such a decision will be taken by Russian President Vladimir Putin after assessing a 'combination of factors'.

"We have to evaluate the consequences of the list of oligarchs in terms of how it is used," Riabkov also said.

Despite ruined relations between the US and Russia, Riabkov said Moscow remains keen to try to make progress with the US in terms of arms control and non-aggression pacts.