Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday lamented the latest round of US sanctions against his country, saying they would stalemate bilateral relations and hurt not only Russian, but also US businesses.
Russia’s benchmark MICEX was down 2.9 percent in late afternoon trading on news of the sanctions, while its biggest oil company, Rosneft, was nearly 5 percent down.
Putin’s comments came hours after US President Barack Obama announced broader sanctions against Moscow, targeting two major energy firms including Rosneft, two powerful financial institutions, eight weapons firms and four individuals.
Photo: AFP
The increased US economic pressure is designed to end the insurgency in eastern Ukraine that is widely believed to be backed by the Kremlin.
However, the US penalties stopped short of the most stringent actions the West has threatened, which would fully cut off key sectors of Russia’s oil-dependent economy. US officials said those steps were still on the table if Russia fails to abide by the West’s demands to stop its support for the pro-Russia insurgents who have destabilized eastern Ukraine.
In televised comments yesterday, Putin said the sanctions are “driving into a corner” relations between the two nations as well as the interests of US companies and “the long-term national interests of the US government and people.”
Putin warned the US that the sanctions would create a backlash against US firms working in Russia.
The most noticeable firms on the list are Rosneft and Russia’s largest independent gas producer, Novatek. Both are now barred from getting long-term loans from US entities.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in televised remarks said the sanctions are throwing Russia’s relations with the West “back to the 1980s” and added that Russia “will have to pay more attention to military and security spending.”
Putin made no mention of the additional sanctions levied on Wednesday by the 28-nation EU, which urged the European Investment Bank to sign no new financing agreements with Moscow and said that it was suspending operations in Russia financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
European nations have much closer energy and other economic ties with Russia and have not imposed as tough sanctions as the US.
However, the Russian foreign ministry did lash out at the EU’s new sanctions, accusing Europe of “giving in to the bullying of the US administration.”
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military yesterday said Russian jets shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter plane that was on military operations over the east of the country.
It was the first time Kiev had directly accused Moscow of using air power in the war. The pilot safely ejected, Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s National Defense and Security Council, told reporters.
Russia’s defense ministry declined to comment.
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