Putin: Sanctions drive Russia-U.S. relations into corner but door still open to negotiations
BRASILIA. July 17 (Interfax) - Sanctions are driving Russia-U.S. relations into a corner, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Yet he told Russian journalists in Brasilia that the door was still open to negotiations with Washington.
The U.S. sanctions on Russia "disagree with the national interests of the United States itself," Putin opined. "The actions of the U.S. administration do harm to their own biggest companies," the Russian president stated.
He said they would look into the sanctions without haste.
The U.S. Department of Treasury earlier imposed more sanctions on a number of Russian companies and individuals.
The U.S. introduced sanctions that prohibit U.S. persons from providing new financing to two Russian banks, Gazprombank and Vnesheconombank (VEB), and two Russian energy firms, Novatek and Rosneft , limiting their access to U.S. capital markets, a statement on the U.S. Department of the Treasury website reads.
The sanctions will also affect eight Russian arms firms, including Almaz-Antey, Bazalt Federal State Unitary Enterprise State Research and Production Enterprise, Sozvezdie Concern, NPO Mashinostroyenia, Kalashnikov Concern, KBP Instrument Design Bureau, Radio-Electronic Technologies, and Uralvagonzavod. The companies according to the statement "are responsible for the production of a range of materiel that includes small arms, mortar shells, and tanks."
Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic got under the U.S. sanctions for "threatening the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine," the statement reads.
According to the statement, The Department of the Treasury also designated Feodosiya Enterprises and four Russian government officials, including Sergey Beseda of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russian Minister for Crimean Affairs Oleg Savelyev, State Duma Deputy Chairman Sergei Neverov, and Russian presidential aide Igor Shchyogolev
The European Union has also made the same move and brought its own sanctions against Russia.
"The European Council agrees to expand the restrictive measures, with a view to targeting entities, including from the Russian Federation, that are materially or financially supporting actions undermining or threatening Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence," conclusions adopted at the special meeting of the European Council read.
"It tasks the Council to adopt the necessary legal instruments and to decide by the end of July on a first list of entities and persons, including from the Russian Federation, to be listed under the enhanced criteria. It also asks to consider the possibility of targeting individuals or entities who actively provide material or financial support to the Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Eastern-Ukraine," the conclusions read.
The European Council also requested the European Investment Bank to suspend the signature of new financing operations in the Russian Federation. EU member states will also coordinate their positions within the EBRD Board of Directors with a view to also suspend financing of new operations, the conclusions read.
"The European Council invites the Commission to reassess EU-Russia cooperation programs with a view to taking a decision, on a case by case basis, on the suspension of the implementation of EU bilateral and regional cooperation programs," the conclusions read. This. however, will not affect projects dealing exclusively with cross-border cooperation and civil society, according to them.
