Russian PM eyes US goods as Moscow mulls response to sanctions
Russia should look at US goods or goods produced in Russia by US companies when considering a possible response to new sanctions imposed on Moscow by Washington, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday.
The US sanctions, announced on April 6, target officials and business people around President Vladimir Putin in an aggressive response to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election, Reuters reported.
The sanctions have triggered steep falls in the ruble and some Russian stocks.
Speaking before Russia’s lower house of parliament, Medvedev said the new sanctions were an attempt to capture global markets for US companies.
“There are quite a lot of products ... in our markets that we get from the USA,” he said. It’s not just securities... but a whole range of other products which are supplied to our market and produced by American business on the territory of our country.”
“Measures in response should be well thought-out, not inflict harm to ourselves, and be appropriate. I do not rule out that... we will have to weigh all aspects of our cooperation with the United States,” Medvedev said.
Russia imported $12.5 billion worth of US products in 2017, according to official Russian customs data. That included aircraft, machinery, pharmaceutical and chemical products.
Western companies, including Ford Motor Company, Pepsico, Inc. and Coca-cola’s bottler Coca-cola HBC, have also invested billions of dollars since the fall of the Soviet Union to set up local production in Russia.