Savonlinna, Finland - President Vladimir
Putin said on Thursday that Russia would be forced to retaliate
if Washington pressed ahead with what he called illegal new
sanctions against Moscow, describing US conduct towards his
country as boorish and unreasonable.
Putin, speaking on a visit to Finland, was commenting on a
vote by the US House of Representatives which on Tuesday
decided to impose new sanctions on Moscow and to force President
Donald Trump to obtain lawmakers' permission before easing any
sanctions on Russia.
The sanctions have yet to be approved by the Senate or
Trump, and a top White House aide said on Thursday that Trump
could veto the legislation in order to push for a tougher deal.
Putin, who has repeatedly denied US allegations that
Russia interfered with last year's US presidential election,
said Moscow would only decide on how to retaliate against
Washington once it had seen the final text of the proposed law.
"As you know, we are exercising restraint and patience, but
at some moment we'll have to retaliate. It's impossible to
endlessly tolerate this boorishness towards our country," Putin
told a joint news conference with his Finnish counterpart.
"When will our response follow? What will it be? That will
depend on the final version of the draft law which is now being
debated in the U.S. Senate."
Putin also spoke about an ongoing diplomatic row between
Moscow and Washington which erupted last December when then U.S.
President Barack Obama ordered the seizure of Russian diplomatic
property in the United States and the expulsion of 35 Russian
diplomats.
"This goes beyond all reasonable bounds," said Putin. "And
now these sanctions - they are also absolutely unlawful from the
point of view of international law."
Calling the proposed sanctions "extremely cynical," Putin
said the demarche looked like an attempt by Washington to use
its "geopolitical advantages ... to safeguard its economic
interests at the expense of its allies".
He dismissed Congressional investigations into Russia's
alleged meddling in last year's US presidential election,
calling them a symptom of growing anti-Russian hysteria in the
United States and a result of US domestic politics.
"It's very sad that US-Russian relations are being
sacrificed to resolve internal policy issues in the US," said
Putin. "It's a pity, because acting together we could be solving
jointly the most acute problems that worry the peoples of Russia
and the United States much more efficiently."
However, Putin said that Moscow had "many friends" in the
United States and hoped that one day the situation would right
itself.