Russia declares the US as one of the hostile countries

“Mixed war is what is happening right now that we have to face,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at an event in Moscow on May 17. “It’s not just limited to US, British advisers telling armed Ukrainian nationalists what to do and giving them intelligence data. It’s a diplomatic and political battle. to try to isolate us in the world. It’s an economic war.”

Mr. Peskov’s statement was made in the context of Russia being subjected to many sanctions from the US and the West after opening a special military operation in Ukraine at the end of February.

“It is true that we should consider them peacefully unfriendly states, but I should say that they are hostile countries, because what they are doing is war,” Peskov said.

“They blockade, block our national money and then take it away. In other words, our dollar and euro assets in accounts in Western countries have been frozen. In fact, they have been frozen. stolen or being tried to steal,” the Kremlin spokesman said, adding that such expressions of hostility abound.

After Russia launched a military campaign, the US and its allies imposed many rounds of sanctions against Russia, such as removing some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system, banning the import of many goods from Russia, and abolishing regulations. most favored nation regime with this country. The United States also announced a ban on imports of oil and other energy products from Russia.

Western countries are freezing about half of the more than $600 billion in foreign currency and gold reserves of the Russian Central Bank. This is considered one of the toughest economic sanctions against Moscow. The Central Bank of Russia then implemented tight capital controls and raised interest rates to strengthen the ruble.

The European Union (EU) has also frozen more than $30 billion in Russian assets, including nearly $7 billion in luxury goods belonging to oligarchs such as yachts, artwork, real estate and helicopters. The US sanctioned and froze yachts and aircraft worth more than a billion dollars, as well as freezing “hundreds of millions of dollars in Russian elites in US accounts”.

The US and the West also continue to provide weapons to Ukraine, especially heavy weapons when Russia steps up its activities in eastern Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly warned that the move of the US and the West will only prolong the conflict, and vowed to target these weapons shipments when they reach Ukrainian territory.

Huyen Le (According to TASS)