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Russia says US sanctions ‘dangerous’ and ‘short-sighted’

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev .

Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russia’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that new US sanctions, signed into law by President Donald Trump, are a “dangerous” and “short-sighted” policy.

In a statement, the ministry said the sanctions against Russia had put global stability at risk, a matter Moscow said it and the United States bear particular responsibility for.

“We have already shown that we are not going to leave hostile acts unanswered… and we obviously reserve the right to take retaliatory measures,” it said.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev also weighed in, saying on his Facebook page that the sanctions had “ended Russian hopes for an improvement in relations with the new US administration”.

The measures amount to a “real trade war” on Russia, he added.

The foreign ministry statement also urged the US to “get rid of its illusions and understand that no threat or pressure will force Russia to change its policy or sacrifice its national interests”.

Russia remains “open to cooperation with the United States in areas considered useful to Moscow and to international security, particularly regarding regional conflicts,” it said in apparent reference to Syria.

But such collaboration will only be fruitful if “politicians in Washington stop looking at the world through their exclusively American prism,” the statement added.

Trump reluctantly signed off on the sanctions behind closed doors earlier Wednesday, bowing to domestic pressure. The step puts efforts to improve ties with the Kremlin in severe jeopardy.

The US president’s anger was obvious in a signing statement in which he called the legislation “significantly flawed.”

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