MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday denounced new U.S. sanctions on Moscow’s energy sector as an attempt to damage Russia’s economy at the risk of destabilizing global markets and said the country will continue major oil and gas projects.
A ministry statement also said Russia would respond to Washington’s “hostile” actions announced on Friday while drawing up its foreign policy strategy.
The statement said the measures amounted to “an attempt to inflict at least some damage on the Russian economy, even at the cost of risking destabilization of global markets as President Joe Biden’s inglorious term draws to a close. ”
“Despite the convulsions in the White House and the machinations of the Russophobic lobby in the West, which is trying to drag the global energy sector into the ‘hybrid war’ that the United States has unleashed against Russia, our country is and will remain a key and reliable player on the global fuel market.”
The measures represented the broadest US sanctions package yet targeting Russian oil and gas revenues, part of measures to give Kiev and Donald Trump’s incoming administration power to reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Gazprom (MCX:) Neft and Surgutneftegas, which explore, produce and sell oil, as well as on 183 ships that have shipped Russian oil, many of which are part of the so-called shadow fleet of aging tankers that are being operated by non-Western companies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the measures would deal “a significant blow” to Moscow. “The less revenue Russia gets from oil, the sooner peace will be restored,” he said.
