The Moscow Times offers a roundup of reaction from Russian officials and politicians to the Trump administration's newly announced sanctions:
“This is complete lawlessness and impotence, insanity, that we’re seeing from the side of the Americans, [it's] because all of their projects on the international arena are failing, one after the other.”
— General Vladimir Dzhabarov, deputy head of the Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee:
“This is a path to nowhere. You can’t intimidate Russia with this, let alone break it.”
— Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee
“I look at the new list of Russian officials and oligarchs put under U.S. sanctions. I remember how they drank champagne for Trump’s victory in the election. I laugh.”
— Alexei Navalny, Russian opposition politician
“It looks like the Americans will be using terrorist methods […] In other words, they will ‘kill hostages.’ They’re going to select people from the Kremlin list as ‘hostages,’ so that the others see that the same will happen to them if they don’t behave correctly.”
— Alexander Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs
“All the loud statements and accusations are just a pretext to squeeze Russia out of the international arms market. [It’s] flagrant and pragmatic. This is unfair competition in its purest form.”
— Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport
“As for Russian companies under sanctions, we will support them even more.”
“We will not accept [banks and consumers avoiding working with sanctioned companies], we will severely punish this.”
— Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov
“The new U.S. sanctions are very painful for specific people in Putin’s inner circle. Though we don’t really have anything to be happy about, we’re all they’re hostages. (the GAZ carmaker, for example, was hit by the sanctions”
— Dmitry Gudkov, Russian opposition politician
“U.S. attempts to dictate its will on our country and talk about [Russia's] need to pay for independent and sovereign policy decisions are doomed to a political and diplomatic fiasco.”
— Pyotr Tolstoy, State Duma vice speaker
"Abramovich and Usmanov are not [on the list] for example."
'Insanity' and 'Terrorism' — Russia Reacts to New U.S. Sanctions (The Moscow Times)