Russia’s state-run Sputnik News reported on Friday that Moscow is preparing ostensibly devastating retaliatory sanctions that will be “well-calculated and painful for the American side.”
Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko said the sanctions will not “mirror” those slapped on Russia for invading Ukraine, but would make them a “strong response,” exploiting the “weak points of the West.”
Sputnik quoted similar comments from the Kremlin, but none of them revealed much about how these supposedly precise and agonizing Russian sanctions would actually work.
“All these restrictions still need to be analyzed. Of course, during this analysis, the main concern will be our own interests. That is, we will act solely based on our own interests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied when asked for details about Russia’s economic retaliation.
Fox News, which received no reply when it asked the Kremlin to elaborate on its sanctions plans, noted concern among U.S. and European officials that Russia could cut off “the supply of oil and natural gas that flows from Moscow to Europe.”
“Russia is the world’s second-largest producer of both oil and natural gas; a conflict or sanctions could disrupt the oil market even further at a time when high demand is outpacing tight supplies. OPEC and other oil-producing nations, together known as OPEC+, have resisted calls to boost supply,” Fox noted.
The New York Times suspected Russia would launch cyberattacks as part of its “retaliatory sanctions,” since there is only so much Moscow can do with its most potent economic weapons, oil and gas, without harming its own interests.
Russia has also threatened Canada with sanctions under the “principle of reciprocity,” again without any details.
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