Updated 4:51 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, September 16 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow has not yet set a date for its response to new sanctions imposed by the West over the crisis in Ukraine earlier this month, the Russian president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.
He said that so far, there is no information on what companies and individuals will be affected by the move.
“I would like to reiterate the president’s words that we are not going to do anything to the detriment of our own interests. Anything that we do will be in our own interests,” Peskov told the Russkaya Sluzhba Novostei radio.
On September 12, a new round of sanctions was introduced by the European Union and the United States against Russia, targeting the country's largest banks, energy and defense companies.
Both EU and US officials noted that the sanctions would be reviewed and lifted if the situation in Ukraine improves.
In response to the new restrictions, Russia warned that it could introduce protective measures, which may affect machine-building, the petrochemical and automotive sectors, as well as restrictions on imports of used cars and textiles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed that Moscow will introduce measures in response to new Western sanctions only to protect Russia's interests.
In early August Russia already introduced a ban on certain food imports from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway as a counter-measure to previous rounds of sanctions imposed by Western countries, unjustifiably blaming Moscow for meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, and said that sanctions are an ineffective tool which threatens international peace and stability and runs counter to the principles of international law.
