Kremlin: Putin to decide on counter sanctions against Washington

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the World Holocaust Forum marking 75 years since the liberation of the Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz, at Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre in Jerusalem January 23, 2020

The Kremlin said on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would decide what counter sanctions to impose on Washington, a day after US President Joe Biden hit Moscow with an array of punitive measures, but gave no indication of timing.

The US government on Thursday blacklisted Russian companies, expelled Russian diplomats and barred US banks from buying sovereign bonds from Russia’s central bank, national wealth fund and Finance Ministry.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was mulling its response.

“The principle of reciprocity for such matters has not been canceled, but everything will depend on the decisions made by the (Russian) head of state.”

Peskov did not say when Putin would decide on counter sanctions, though Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday retaliatory sanctions would come soon.

Peskov added that the Kremlin had yet to decide on Putin’s possible participation in a US-led climate summit.

“Their views categorically do not coincide when it comes to creating mutually beneficial relations and taking each other’s interests into account,” Peskov said of Putin and Biden.

Peskov said the Russian leader had repeatedly said that Russia was ready to cooperate with the United States as much as Washington wanted to cooperate with Moscow.

The US sanctions were a response to Moscow’s alleged meddling in last year’s US election, cyber hacking, bullying Ukraine and other alleged malign actions. Russia denies all the allegations.

Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the United States, was recalled to Moscow last month amid deteriorating ties. He attended a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday.