(Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Moscow would never bow to pressure from the United States or any other foreign power, and cautioned that it would deliver an “overwhelming” response to any military strikes deep inside Russia.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday hit Russia’s two biggest oil companies with sanctions in a sharp policy shift on Moscow’s war in Ukraine, prompting global oil prices to rise by nearly 5% on Thursday and India to consider cutting Russian imports.
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Putin told reporters that U.S. and Western sanctions were an “unfriendly” act and “will have certain consequences, but they will not significantly affect our economic well-being”. Russia’s energy sector feels confident, he said.
“This is, of course, an attempt to put pressure on Russia,” Putin added. “But no self-respecting country and no self-respecting people ever decides anything under pressure.”
Putin, after joking with reporters about how sanctions might prevent the West importing Russian toilets, recalled that Trump during his first term imposed tough sanctions on Russia.
He warned that disrupting exports from Russia – the world’s second largest oil exporter – would lead to a sharp rise in the price of oil, including at U.S. gas stations. This could be politically uncomfortable for Washington, he said.
While the extent of the financial hit on Russia may be limited in the short term, the new sanctions are a powerful signal of Trump’s intent to squeeze its finances and try to force the Kremlin towards a peace deal, though it is still unclear if India will actually cease buying Russian crude.
Trump said during the U.S. election campaign that he would swiftly end the Ukraine war which his administration has cast as a “proxy war” between Washington and Moscow. After leaning heavily on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he has recently expressed disappointment and frustration with Putin.
Trump, who has described Russia as a “paper tiger”, said on Wednesday he had cancelled a planned summit with Putin. The U.S. Treasury slapped sanctions on two of Russia’s biggest oil companies.
Putin said that the summit and venue – Budapest – had been proposed by Trump.
“What can I say? Dialogue is always better than some kind of confrontation, than some kind of dispute or, even more so, war,” Putin said.
Asked about a Wall Street Journal report that the Trump administration has lifted a key restriction on Ukraine’s use of some long-range missiles provided by Western allies, and remarks by Zelenskiy about domestic missiles with a range of 3,000 km (1,900 miles), Putin said: “This is an attempt at escalation.”
“But if such weapons are used to attack Russian territory, the response will be very serious, if not overwhelming. Let them think about it,” he said.
Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Trevelyan
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