Russia: New US sanctions meant to punish Russia for supporting Syria

Moscow – Russian Foreign Ministry said that the new US sanctions against some Russian figures aim to punish Russia for the support it has provided to the Syrian government in the fight terrorism, SANA reported.

“The new US sanctions adopted by the outgoing US President Barack Obama are detrimental to the US interests only,” Sputnik quoted the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement Saturday.

“This widening of American sanctions against Russia … at a time when the bloody attacks in Ankara and Berlin should bring reasonable people together to fight the terrorist threat shows that Washington has completely lost its grip on reality. Nonetheless, the outgoing Obama administration has set out, in the past few years, to vigorously search for ways to harm Moscow. But this had not happened the way they wanted it,” the ministry added.

“It has long been noticed that, under the current administration, Washington in its pursuit to shift power in Syria is ready to help any destructive forces. [It is] protecting and covering Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group that is none other but a subdivision of al-Qaeda, which has committed the most horrible terrorist acts in the history of the US,” the statement said.

“It seems that the White House has forgotten that, under the US law, aiding terrorism is a criminal offense,” the Ministry pointed out in the statement.

On Friday, the US Department of Commerce added 23 Russian entities to its sanctions list.