Moscow Vows Harsh Response to US Sanctions, Future Hostile Moves

AVA- The ministry's message to the administration of US President Donald Trump added that Russia wouldn't "be spoken to in the language of sanctions" and warned that thousands of US jobs depend on Russian firms hit by that latest wave of penalties.
"Of course, we will not leave the current and any future anti-Russian attack without a harsh response," the ministry's press service said in a statement. "However, we would like, first of all, to advise Washington to get rid of illusions that we can be spoken to in the language of sanctions."
"By continuously using sanctions, including for removing rivals from foreign markets with the use of such administrative measures, Washington practically becomes an opponent of the market economy and fair competition," the statement noted.
As US democracy is "degrading," Washington is scrambling to "ensure the global hegemony of the United States by all means, including through pressure on countries that have an independent voice, unlike Washington's allies in NATO," the ministry alleged. However, "no pressure will make Russia swerve off its path."
Prior to the ministry's comments, the Russian embassy in the United States remarked that the sanctions would represent another blow to US-Russia relations.
"Washington again struck US-Russia relations," the Russian embassy's statement read. "Now, the captains of Russian businesses who refused to play by Washington's rules got targeted by the sanctions."
The US Treasury Department announced early Friday that it would be imposing sanctions on 38 Russian businessmen and senior government officials, including private and state-owned companies. The department's cited Moscow's "malign activity" in the United States and around the world as its reasoning for the sanctions.
Sanctioned officials include head of the Presidential Directorate for Social and Economic Cooperation with the Commonwealth of Independent States Member Countries Oleg Govorun; Tula Governor Alexey Dyumin; Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev; presidential aide Yevgeny Shkolov; and Deputy of the State Duma Andrei Skoch.