West acting like bandits, Russia too big to be isolated: Kremlin on sanctions over Ukraine move

The Kremlin on Saturday hit out at Western nations for slapping crippling sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine and said they were acting like bandits.

Moscow said Russia was far too big to be isolated as the world was much larger than just the United States and Europe, reported news agency Reuters.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the West was engaged in “economic banditry” against Russia and that Moscow would respond without divulging further details on the same. He, however, said the response would be in line with Russian interests. “This does not mean Russia is isolated,” Peskov told reporters.

“The world is too big for Europe and America to isolate a country, and even more so a country as big as Russia. There are many more countries in the world.”

Peskov said that if the United States imposed sanctions on Russia’s energy exports then it would give a considerable jolt to energy markets.

The Kremlin also defended Russia’s new legislation that could see people jailed for up to 15 years for publishing “fake news” about its military, saying the country was facing “an information war”. The newly passed law gives Moscow much stronger powers to crack down on independent journalism, prompting the BBC, Bloomberg, and other foreign media to suspend reporting in the country.

The country also blocked Facebook and some other websites on Friday as part of the crackdown.

“The law was necessary and needed urgently because of the unprecedented — not even campaign — but information war that has been unleashed against our country,” Peskov was quoted as telling Reuters.

In the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the biggest on a European state since World War Two, the western nations have responded by slapping a barrage of sanctions, sparking fears of a global economic conflict.

The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine entered the 10th day on Saturday, as Moscow continued to bombard cities in the East European nation, justifying that the attack is a “special operation” to capture individuals it regards as dangerous nationalists.