Russia Has Promised to Respond to New Western Sanctions

Commenting on the EU and US sanctions for the Navalny case, Moscow stated "another provocation" from the West. The Kremlin has also questioned the sanctions policy effectiveness. According to Russian officials, Moscow will respond to EU sanctions against the security agencies chiefs, imposed for the persecution of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Thus, the head of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, on Tuesday, March 2, in an interview with TASS, told about" inadmissible method in international relations" which "will meet Russia's response." He called the EU decision "a classical manipulation" and "planting of evidence" into an uninvestigated situation to back its "solely true version of what happened." Lavrov pointed to the reciprocity principle in diplomacy Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian President's press secretary Dmitry Peskov commented on media information about the impending US sanctions for the poisoning and Navalny's sentence. "We will definitely respond. Nobody has canceled one of the rules in diplomacy - reciprocity," Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow a few hours before Washington has officially announced its sanctions. According to Dmitry Peskov, the sanctions policy is not effective. He suggested that the sanction makers think about whether "they themselves are not the reason for the deteriorated interstate affairs when they continue this policy." Speaking to reporters even before the official announcement of the sanctions, he added that the Russian "response will be obvious." Synchronized EU and US sanctions On the same day, the EU sanctions were published in the official journal and took effect. The black list included the Prosecutor General of Russia Igor Krasnov, the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service Alexander Kalashnikov and the head of the National Guard Viktor Zolotov. EU sanctions were imposed in response to the arrest in Russia of opposition politician Alexei Navalny. Navalny was sentenced to imprisonment in Moscow in early February on charges of multiple violations of the requirements of a suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher case. The European Union considers these accusations unfounded, since after being affected in Russia by a toxic agent belonging to the Novichok group, Navalny was treated in Germany for many months and was not able to report to the police. Simultaneously, Washington announced introduction of penalties against the Russians responsible for Navalny's poisoning and prosecution. The list includes both individuals and legal entities. In particular, 14 companies and other institutions, most of which were engaged in the production of biological and chemical agents. At the same time, the specific persons from the sanctions list have not yet been named.