Medvedev promises harsh Russian response to departure of Western companies

(technical repeat)

MOSCOW. March 10 (Interfax) - Moscow will respond harshly to foreign politicians who force their companies to leave Russia, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said in a message on his Vkontakte page.

"We will respond to this in a principled and tough manner," Medvedev said.

Medvedev wrote that he observes "the great exodus of foreign companies from the Russian market, although it would seem that they had long ago established a successful business here, which brought them considerable income."

"The decision has nothing to do with business - pure politics," he said.

"Washington and Brussels, which dances to its tune, can't calm down, coming up with more and more stupid bans, because they can't really respond to Russia. They are ridiculous. They want private companies to participate in the parade of these stupid restrictions. I sincerely pity them," Medvedev said.

He emphasized that "short-sighted Russophobic officials do not care about the fact that people - both in Europe and in Russia - may lose their jobs and incomes because of these stupid decisions running counter to common sense.

"The main task of the politicians is to put severe pressure on the shareholders of enterprises, to force them to submit to their will," Medvedev said.

"They also do not take into account the reluctance of foreign businesses to leave Russia and their potential losses," he said.