Russia promises 'mirror response' to new US sanctions
If the United States imposes sanctions against Russia because of the "Skripal case," Moscow will mirror its response to Washington, said the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova at the briefing broadcasted on the ministry's Facebook page.
"This is exclusively about the adequate response measures. Therefore, the response measures will match the sanctions measures against the Russian side, " said Zakharova. She stressed that Moscow always responds to sanctions in "adequate and mirrored manner".
At the same time, Zakharova stressed that all the decisions regarding this issue will be made only after Washington's official implementation of these sanctions.
On August 8, the U.S. State Department announced plans to impose sanctions against Russia over the poisoning of the former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK. The British authorities stated that the Skripals were poisoned with the nerve agent "Novichok", and responsibility for the incident lies with Russia. Washington agrees with this position while Moscow denies these accusations.
Sanctions will be introduced systematically. During the first stage, the U.S. will impose a ban on the export of dual-use goods to Russia. If within three months period Russia will not provide guarantees not to use chemical or biological weapons, sanctions will reduce the foreign trade.
In the Russian Foreign Ministry, these claims were called unacceptable. They accused the U.S. of deliberately exacerbating bilateral relations, which "are already reduced to zero by their efforts".