DUSHANBE, Tajikistan
Russia would not respond to the new round of EU and U.S. sanctions at the expense of the Russian economy, President Vladimir Putin said Friday.
"Just for the sake of reciprocating we'll not reciprocate, we only do it if we decide it won't hurt our economy," Russian president said in remarks to press in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, which hosted a high-level summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization -- the six-member union of Eurasian heavyweights.
The Obama administration sanctioned Russia’s largest bank Friday as the U.S. moved to expand sanctions on Russia’s financial, energy and defense sectors.
Washington’s actions were taken in cooperation with the European Union which imposed its own set of sanctions on Moscow earlier Friday. The U.S. and the EU blame Russia for destabilizing Ukraine.
Washington blacklisted Sberbank of Russia, the country’s largest bank. Sberbank holds roughly one-quarter of Russian banking assets, and one-third of its banking capital, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
The new EU and U.S. sanctions also target major Russian oil companies, preventing them from accessing financial markets in Europe among other measures. The EU meets around 30 percent of its natural gas need from Russia.
Putin termed as “weird” the sanctions move coming at a time when a temporary cease-fire was arrived in Ukraine.
"Maybe a peaceful roadmap in Ukraine did not please some parties. Our Western partners take steps that would threaten the peace process," Putin said.
"Apparently their issue is not Ukraine. They use it as a tool of international relations; it is just like a hostage at the hands of several countries."
A tentative peace deal between Ukraine and the pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country was reached last week in a conference at the Belarusian capital of Minsk.
On Monday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia may retaliate against the sanctions introduced by Western countries by closing its airspace to Western airlines.
www.aa.com.tr/en
