The Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergei Ryabkov has said that Moscow will not delay its response to new US sanctions, according to Russian state news agency RIA.
Ryabkov’s comments on Monday were in response to remarks made by Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, who said on Sunday that Washington shall take action to impose new economic sanctions on Russia for their support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Ryabkov said that Russia’s lower house of parliament taking into consideration about a legislation that would give the Kremlin the power to restrict US imports, RIA reported.
The deputy foreign minister also said that the politicians from Russia were discussing US “abuse of the dollar’s status as the international currency, RIA quoted Ryabkov as saying.
Syrian government forces are being suspected for using chemical weapons on the Douma area on April 7 – an allegation that Syria’s Assad denies.
The US and its allies, France and UK, gave a response to the suspected attack by launching missiles on Saturday that they said targeted Chemical Weapons sites in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the US-led strikes as “an act of aggression” that will only worsen the humanitarian crisis in Syria.
Haley told US media that sanctions may happen as early as Monday.
“You will see that Russian sanctions will be coming down,” Haley said
The US has already imposed sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Crimea and role in the Ukraine conflict, as well as its alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
The administration of US President Donald Trump is mired deep in controversies surrounding the Department of Justice’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
On Friday, it was clear in court that Trump’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen has been under criminal investigation for months.
Former FBI Director James Comey, who was removed from his post by Trump, also compared the US leader to a mafia boss in reality and said he was “morally unfit” to be president, stoking controversies.
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