Russia may refuse to back U.S. at UN Security Council on N. Korea, impose restrictions on its businesses - Pushkov
MOSCOW. July 28 (Interfax) - Moscow may deny support for Washington at the UN Security Council, particularly with regard to the North Korea issue, and impose restrictions on U.S. companies in retaliation for the U.S. bill on new anti-Russian sanctions if it takes effect, Russian Federation Council information policy commission head Alexei Pushkov said.
"The United States is trying to deal a blow to interaction between Russia and Europe, particularly energy cooperation, the Nord Stream 2 project, our banking system, and our financing and lending capacities. I believe Russia doesn't possess the same levers in this field as the U.S. does, but we possess other levers in the foreign policy field," Pushkov told Interfax on Friday.
"The U.S. needs our support on some issues at the UN Security Council, they are trying to mobilize the international community to toughen sanctions against North Korea, for instance. To make their actions legitimate and to work out a truly broad-based sanctions program against North Korea, they certainly need support from Russia, China, and some other countries, and there is a need for a relevant Security Council resolution to this end," he said.
Russia might also consider some measures against U.S. companies present on the Russian market, Pushkov said.
"Since the U.S. has been waging an economic war against us for several years and making things difficult for our economic and financial sector any way it can, I believe there would be nothing illogical or impulsive if we considered retaliatory measures with regard to American businesses," he said.
U.S. companies operating in Russia earn part of their income here, but these are purely commercial projects, as they have no influence on political processes, Pushkov said.
"We should see what these companies do, whether the Russian consumer needs their products, and whether we should maintain currently existing conditions for them. This is also a possible response," Pushkov said.
"I presume that Russia's response might not be symmetrical, but it will be quite substantial," he said.
As regards Moscow's countermeasures against Washington announced on Friday, this is a response "to hostile U.S. actions undertaken toward our diplomats and diplomatic property in December," he said.
The U.S. bill on new Russia sanctions has made it clear that there are "no reasons to expect that the Russian-U.S. relations may be improved and normalized, and, considering this, it's been decided after all to counter the steps undertaken by the Obama administration," Pushkov said.
"The passage of the bill on new sanctions by the U.S. Senate has created a political context in which Russia has made the conclusion that it has to make this decision and not to delay this, because there are virtually no reasons now to expect any improvement in Russian-U.S. relations," he said.
Russia expects that the sanctions bill is likely to be signed by the U.S. president, he said.
"And, as a Kremlin official warned, our retaliatory measures to sanctions will be formulated later, when the U.S. president signs the bill into law," he said.