Foreign Ministry says response to US sanctions against Russia's energy sector

The US actions will not go unreacted and will be taken into account when building Russia's foreign economic strategy. This was reported by the press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry in its Telegram channel on Saturday, January 11, commenting on the introduction of new anti-Russian sanctions.

"Washington's hostile actions will not go unanswered and will be taken into account when building our foreign economic strategy," the ministry said.

It is specified that the purpose of the sanctions imposed by current US President Joe Biden is to impede any economic ties with Russia, which harms Washington's European allies, American citizens and future US President Donald Trump. The Russian diplomatic ministry emphasized that the current administration is leaving "scorched earth" for the new head of the White House with this decision.

"In this case, the interests of both the European allies of the United States, forced to switch to more expensive and unstable American supplies, and its own population, now suffering from the consequences of large-scale fires in California, are sacrificed," the ministry said.

The ministry noted that despite the U.S. sanctions, Russia will continue to implement major projects in the oil and gas industry, import substitution and construction of nuclear power plants abroad. Moscow also remains a reliable and key player in the global energy market, despite US attempts to "drag" the global energy industry into a "hybrid war" against it.

Last chord: Biden administration imposes sweeping sanctions against Russia's oil sector

However, their future fate will depend on the decisions of US President-elect Donald Trump

The day before, the US authorities extended sanctions against a number of Russian corporations and their executives. The list includes Gazprom Neft and its head Alexander Dyukov, Surgutneftegaz, as well as the head of Zarubezhneft, Sergei Kudryashov. In addition, restrictions were imposed on the CEO of Rosatom Alexei Likhachev. Gazprom's medium-tonnage natural gas liquefaction plant Gazprom LNG Portovaya on the Baltic coast was also added to the list.

Restrictions against Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz were also imposed by the UK. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Izvestia, commenting on the new U.S. measures against Russia, that the incumbent U.S. president is going to "leave no trace in history" and "only leave a legacy" before he leaves office.

Back in November 2024, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that Western sanctions will not lead to restrictions on Russia's foreign trade. According to him, all restrictions by Western countries first of all hit them.

Western countries increased sanctions pressure on Russia after the start of the special operation to protect civilians in Donbass, which was announced on February 24, 2022.