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Russia has warned new US sanctions against Moscow will take already battered ties to a new low, and said it was close to taking retaliatory measures of its own.
Key points:
- Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister says ties are entering 'uncharted territory'
- Russia has repeatedly warned it may retaliate against hostile moves
- One Russian politician has called on Moscow to devise a "painful" response
Russia was responding after the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to impose new sanctions on Moscow, which will also force President Donald Trump to obtain politicians' permission before easing any of those sanctions.
The US sanctions demarche has rattled Russia, which fears that its economy, weakened by a 2014 batch of Western sanctions imposed over its role in the Ukraine crisis, will now find it harder to recover and grow.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency the latest US sanctions have left no room to improve ties between Moscow and Washington in the near future, and took the relationship into uncharted waters.
"This is already having an extremely negative impact on the process of normalising our relations," Mr Ryabkov told Interfax.
US-Russian relations were entering "uncharted territory in a political and diplomatic sense", he added.
Moscow had initially hoped that Mr Trump would work to repair the two countries' relationship which has slumped to a post-Cold War low.
However allegations that Russia interfered with last year's US presidential election, as well as concerns over Trump campaign associates' alleged ties to Russia, have frustrated Moscow and killed off the possibility of better relations — Russia has flatly denied the meddling accusations.
The Kremlin later told reporters during a conference call that the new proposed sanctions were "sad news" for US-Russian relations.
"The attitude to this [law] will be formed on the basis of a thorough analysis, and the decision [on how to respond] will certainly be taken by the head of state, President [Vladimir] Putin," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"Right now we can say that this is rather sad news from the point of view of Russia-US ties and their further development. This is no less disheartening from the point of view of international law and international trade relations.
"But let's now wait until it becomes a law."
The bill, approved by the House of Representatives, must still be passed by the Senate and signed by Mr Trump before it can become law.
American spies in Russia could be targeted
Russia has repeatedly warned the United States it will retaliate against what it sees as hostile moves and Mr Ryabkov made clear Moscow was growing tired of showing restraint.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier this month that too many American spies operated in Russia under diplomatic cover and that it might expel some of them to retaliate over Washington's expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats last year.
That warning reflected rising frustration in Moscow over the Trump administration's refusal to hand back two Russian diplomatic compounds which were seized at the same time as the diplomats were sent home.
Many Russian politicians believe Mr Trump's political opponents and Congress have successfully reduced the US President's room for manoeuvre on Russia to almost nil.
Mr Ryabkov told Interfax the new sanctions bill was the "brainchild" of US Congressmen who hated Russia and wanted to box in Mr Trump.
Konstantin Kosachyov, who heads the foreign relations committee in Russia's upper house of parliament, called on Moscow to devise a "painful" response to the US move.
Reuters
Topics: donald-trump, world-politics, trade, united-states, russian-federation
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