Russian PM says mulling response to new US sanctions

MOSCOW - Moscow is considering measures to counter new US sanctions, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday.

The US Treasury announced Friday it had imposed new sanctions on 38 Russian individuals and entities, including seven business leaders and 17 senior officials, for their alleged "malign activities" around the world.

As a result of the punishment, all assets of the designated persons and entities that are subject to US jurisdiction are frozen, and US persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them.

The new US sanctions "are an attempt to attack us using unfair competition, to limit our development and to create tension in our economy and on the currency and stock markets," Medvedev said at the State Duma, Russia's lower house of the parliament.

One of the targets of the new US sanction is Oleg Deripaska, the main owner of Rusal, one of the world's leading aluminum producers.

"This is not a fight against a concrete representative of big business. We understand that as we are not children. This is a struggle for markets, struggle against the largest suppliers of aluminum, non-ferrous and other metals," Medvedev said.

Talking about Russia's countermeasures, Medvedev said that possible targets could be US securities as well as "a series of other goods which are supplied to our market or are produced by US businesses on the territory of our country."

"There is no doubt that we will cope with this pressure, as we have already learned how to do this, and ultimately turn all these actions to the benefit of our own economy and our own economic development," Medvedev said.