Russia on Wednesday rejected the possibility of U.S. sanctions against President Vladimir Putin, one of several possible responses should Russian forces invade neighboring Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that such sanctions would not be politically painful, but “destructive.”
U.S. President, Joe Biden, had warned on Tuesday. of “grave” and “enormous” consequences for Putin, including personal sanctions against the leader himself, if the Russian leader mobilizes the estimated 127,000 troops poised to strike along the Ukrainian border.
Russia demanded a written response to his proposals, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Duma on Wednesday that if “the West continues its aggressive course, Moscow will take the necessary retaliatory measures.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, reported the communication in writing To Moscow during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. “Today we submitted our written response to Moscow. We talked about a serious diplomatic platform,” the head of US diplomacy explained.
Blinken explained to reporters that the document has already been shared with Congress and that throughout the day he will hold exchanges with some U.S. lawmakers from both parties to consult them on the White House’s point of view.
* With information from Patsy Widakuswara, Voice of America reporter, from Washington DC.
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