Russia threatens "symmetrical" response to new U.S. sanctions

Moscow will make a "symmetrical" response if Washington decides to impose new sanctions on Russia, a senior Russian diplomat said on Monday amid escalating tensions between the two powers over the Syria settlement.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying that "no hostile actions against Russia will be left without a response."

"I would like to remind that Moscow has warned more than once that the answer would not necessarily be tit-for-tat, but it will be symmetrical," Ryabkov said.

On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the United States was considering new sanctions to pressure Russia in the search of a political settlement of the Syria crisis.

Washington and its allies have slapped several rounds of sanctions on Russia in response to its takeover of Crimea and its involvement in the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.

In response, Moscow has banned food imports from countries that had applied sanctions against it following the U.S. moves.

(APD)