Russia to expand ‘black list’ of Americans

MOSCOW: Moscow will respond to a new set of US sanctions by expanding its "black list" of Americans, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday, according to RIA news agency.

The US Treasury slapped sanctions on 19 Russian citizens and five entities on Thursday in the most significant steps the United States has taken against Russia since US President Donald Trump took office.

"From the very beginning, we use the principle of parity on the number of people included in sanction lists. So we will expand our ‘black list’ with another group of Americans," Ryabkov was cited as saying.

He added that Moscow did not rule out extra measures in response to new sanctions for alleged interfering in US elections and cyber attacks, which Russia denies. Moscow still wants to maintain a dialogue with Washington and takes counter-measures due to "American political stubbornness", RIA cited the diplomat as saying.

"Those (American) politicians are playing with fire by destroying Russian-American relationship because simultaneously they shake global stability," Ryabkov said, according to RIA. Ryabkov appeared slightly to soften the blow by adding that Russia did not want to close the window of dialogue with the US or the possibility of stabilizing bilateral relations.

"It is also worth thinking about that, destroying Russian-American relations," said Ryabkov. "These politicians play with fire, because they simultaneously undermine global stability." In enacting the sanctions, the Trump administration is finally meeting a congressional mandate to impose measures punishing Moscow for its cyber intrusion. The delay had led to questions over US President Donald Trump's willingness to punish Moscow.