Lavrov: United States wants to punish thousands of Russians with new sanctions
The US is trying to “create problems for hundreds of thousands of Russians” by introducing more sanctions, Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov stated in an interview with the BBC in response to new possible restrictions against Russia.
“They [the US] declare that they will never harm ordinary people—only oligarchs, politicians and the military, which supposedly destabilizes the world. This is a lie,” stated the Russian Foreign Minister.
According to Lavrov, Washington “does not just threaten to punish those who have any connection with the Syrian government, [but] wants to punish Russian citizens for making the ‘wrong’ choice in the presidential election.”
The BBC interviewer noted that following the latest sanctions imposed by the US on April 6, the Russian stock market decreased by 10% and the ruble fell against dollar. These actions, according to the interviewer, “cornered Russia.”
In response, the Russian minister stated: “Do not worry for Russia; we’ll somehow hold out.”
Earlier, Putin's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov expressed his opinion that the introduction of sanctions by the US “can be recognized as an obsession.”
“Any economist can easily see that in a number of sanctions, competitors are attempting to drive Russian companies out of international markets,” said Peskov
Peskov expressed that the possible restrictions “cannot be a result of the situation in Syria or something else.” He stressed that these sanctions are “nothing more than international economic raiding.”