Russia To 'Delight' US With Countermeasures Amid New Sanctions Soon - Zakharova

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th March, 2021) Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday that Moscow was soon going to "delight" Washington with countermeasures in response to the newly-imposed sanctions over opposition figure Alexey Navalny.

This past Tuesday, the European Union slapped sanctions on several Russian officials accused of playing a role in Navalny's arrest. The United States followed the suit with sanctions of its own that same day. Russia dismissed the restrictions as another hostile lunge against it.

"Given how they [the West] behave now � they published all these [sanction] lists at once � I think that we will delight them soon, the work is underway," Zakharova said during an appearance on Russia's Channel One when asked about Russia's response to US sanctions.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that the relations with the EU were at a low point even before the new sanctions were introduced. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, in turn, described the bilateral relationship as being at a "standstill" during his Moscow visit in early February.

In January, Navalny returned to Moscow from Germany, where he was treated for alleged poisoning and was arrested upon arrival at Sheremetyevo International Airport. Shortly after, a Moscow court rescinded Navalny's suspended sentence in the 2014 Yves Rocher fraud case over multiple probation breaches and replaced it with a 3.5-year prison term.