It is impossible to intimidate Russia with any kind of ultimatums, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of North America Georgiy Borisenko told Sputnik, commenting on a possible new wave of US sanctions targeting Moscow in connection with the Salisbury incident.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2018) It is impossible to intimidate Russia with any kind of ultimatums, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of North America Georgiy Borisenko told Sputnik, commenting on a possible new wave of US sanctions targeting Moscow in connection with the Salisbury incident.
The United States imposed sanctions on Russian on August 27 over its alleged use of chemical weapons in the March poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK city of Salisbury. Moscow has strongly denied all the accusations, pointing to the lack of evidence. The second round of sanctions is expected to roll out in November, and may include scaled back diplomatic relations and an almost complete cessation of US exports.
Commenting on possible new sanctions, Borisenko noted that "it seems Moscow was unfairly offered to take the blame [for the poisoning] as was the case with Russia's fake 'interference' in the [2016 presidential] US election."
"Of course, it is impossible to intimidate Russia with any ultimatums ... Our country destroyed its chemical weapons long ago. It was verified and confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), while the United States has not yet fulfilled its obligation to destroy them, constantly postponing it," Borisenko stressed.
The diplomat added that while the new US measures could have some implications for Russia, their impact would not be "catastrophic."
