Moscow Accuses Washington of Using Sanctions to Squeeze Russia Out of Arms Trade

The Donald Trump administration imposed sanctions on the Chinese military on Thursday for buying fighter jets and missile systems from Russia, in breach of a sweeping US sanctions law punishing Moscow for meddling in the 2016 US election, something Russia denies, The Moscow Times reported.

Peskov called the new sanctions hostile and unpredictable but did not say how Russia would respond.

“They use this practice so often that one would trip up reacting to each new instance,” the spokesman added.

Washington also blacklisted an additional 33 people and entities associated with the Russian military and intelligence.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in a statement it seemed to Moscow that imposing sanctions on Russia had become a national US pastime, noting that the latest wave of restrictions was the 60th sanctions package since 2011.

"Each new round of sanctions proves our foe's complete lack of success in pressuring Russia with previous such attempts," Ryabkov stated, adding that Washington would never succeed in dictating its conditions to Moscow.

"It would be not bad if they remembered about the concept of global stability which they are unthinkingly undermining by whipping up tensions in Russia-US relations. Playing with fire is stupid and can become dangerous," the top diplomat stressed.

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