Sanctions remain one of the few instruments of pressure which are left at the disposal of the political establishment in Washington in order to exert pressure on third-party countries, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said in an interview with the US-based RTVI broadcaster in the wake of the introduction of a new Russia sanctions bill by US lawmakers
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2019) Sanctions remain one of the few instruments of pressure which are left at the disposal of the political establishment in Washington in order to exert pressure on third-party countries, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said in an interview with the US-based RTVI broadcaster in the wake of the introduction of a new Russia sanctions bill by US lawmakers.
"We can see that at present, the US political establishment has basically only one available resource which is unilateral sanctions," Zakharova said, commenting on the "Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act," referred to as DASKA, which was introduced by US lawmakers on Wednesday.
Zakharova continued by noting that military intervention was another tool that could be used by the United States, suggesting that it was kept "for the case of emergency" for settling some conflicts.
The spokeswoman noted that the fact that a state would resort to using these instruments spoke about this state being weak.
The bill introduced by the US lawmaker on Wednesday envisions sweeping sanctions on Russia's energy and banking sectors, as well as the country's sovereign debt. Last year, a similar bill failed to pass in Congress.
The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on the bill, it was aimed at forcing competitive Russian companies out of the market.
