MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Thursday vowed to retaliate against “unacceptable” new US sanctions against Russia over its alleged role in a nerve agent attack on a former spy in Britain, which prompted the ruble and Russian stocks to tumble.

The action by the US State Department is the latest salvo in a series of disputes between the rival powers and comes less than a month after US President Donald Trump met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.

The State Department said on Wednesday the new sanctions were in response to “the use of a ‘Novichok’ nerve agent in an attempt to assassinate UK citizen Sergei Skripal” — who was a Russian double agent — and his daughter Yulia on English soil in March.

They were aimed at punishing Putin’s government for having “used chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law,” spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. But the punitive measures triggered a furious reaction from Moscow.

Russia will “work on developing retaliatory measures,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told journalists.

“Whatever the sanctions against Russia are, the retaliatory measures will be the same,” she said. “If they dream up some (measures), we will answer — it’s not our choice.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was equally emphatic.

“We consider categorically unacceptable the linking of new restrictions, which we as before consider illegal, to the case in Salisbury,” he told journalists.

He said Moscow felt it could now “expect anything at all from Washington” but nevertheless retained “ho­pes of building constructive relations.” The announcement of sanctions caused Russian stock markets to drop dramatically on opening and the ruble reached its lowest point since November 2016. The markets and the currency rebounded slightly over the day while remaining sharply down.

Finance minister Anton Siluanov assured Russians that the government and the central bank have “all the necessary tools to ensure financial stability,” saying the economy has become more resistant to external shocks in recent years.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2018