The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Moscow, Russia | AFP | The Kremlin on Tuesday said it would take its time to study a new US Treasury list of Russian officials and business leaders eligible for sanctions, while refraining from giving into “emotions”.
“We have to analyse this publication, analyse specifically this list that includes members of Russia’s highest leadership which is quite unprecedented,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
“It’s not the first day that we live with quite aggressive comments made against us, so we should not give into emotions,” he said.
“It’s important to be very attentive. The devil is in the details, which need to be understood,” Peskov added.
The Kremlin spokesman said he felt “indifferent” to the fact that his name was on the list because “everyone’s name is there.”
“We can draw attention to the fact that all (these people) have been de facto called enemies of the US. Because the document says that this is being done in accordance with a law to counter the enemies of the US,” he added.
The list was published on Monday and features the names of the most senior members in President Vladimir Putin’s administration — 114 politicians altogether — and 96 business people the US considers to be “oligarchs” close to Putin and worth at least $1 billion each.
Monday was the deadline for its release under a law passed last year by Congress over the objections of President Donald Trump, whom critics in the US say has been oddly reluctant to criticise Russia or Putin.
US lawmakers passed the law — called the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act — out of concern that Trump, eager to have warm ties with Putin, might not take tough action to punish Moscow and Russian officials for supposedly interfering in US elections and destabilising Ukraine.
