Kremlin claims it is ready for U.S. sanctions against Russian national debt
Possible U.S. sanctions against the Russian government's borrowing will be "fairly painless" and the Russian government has prepared for such a development, said First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov in an interview with TASS news agency ahead of the forum "Strong Ideas for a New Time."
"For us, it (purchase of the Russian OFZ (Russian government federal loan bonds)) is not a high-risk story, because all the time our American colleagues warned us that they are going to kill it all. The truth is, they have not killed it yet, but we are ready, and such a turn is not ruled out," Belousov said.
He noted that the Russian government is ready for such a development. "Of course, we cannot rule it out if it's spelled out in certain bills of the United States. Therefore, whether they will activate this mechanism or not, I can not say, but we are ready for such a turn, and now the share of foreigners in the OFZ market is not very large, and they do not account for its growths. At least it is significantly less than it used to be. And the government, the Ministry of Finance are ready to take care of it, if there are such sanctions. We know how to respond to this, I am sure that we will go through this fairly painlessly, if such a decision is made," the first deputy prime minister added.
During the U.S. presidential race, presidential candidate Joe Biden, who according to the leading American media, received 270 electoral college votes needed to defeat the incumbent president, repeatedly made it clear that he no longer sees opportunities for any meaningful cooperation with Russia, except cooperation in the field of arms control. Shortly before the election, Biden said he considered Russia the state that posed the greatest threat to the United States. Biden argued that Russia undermines the security of the United States and its alliances with other countries.
Biden has regularly criticized Moscow on various occasions and stressed that Trump has not been tough enough on Russia. Biden assured that he has experience with the Russian leadership and will be ready to tighten sanctions if he wins the election.