Russia to expand 'black list' of Americans in response to sanctions

According to the RIA news agency, 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.

"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.

Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov and Ambassador of Russian Federation Pavel Kuznetsov arrive to meeting with President of Finland Sauli Niinisto at the President's Official Residence Mantyniemi, Helsinki, Finland Sept. 12, 2017.

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.

(REUTERS)