Russia Should Hit Back Hard if US Adopts New Sanctions - Senior MP

Russia should strengthen cross-sectoral response measures if the United States imposes new sanctions against Moscow, Vladimir Dzhabarov, the first deputy chairman of the Russian parliament's upper house International Affairs Committee, said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Four top lawmakers from the US Senate Banking Committee and the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced an agreement on Monday on "legislation to strengthen and expand current US sanctions on Russia." The legislation is said to be part of an amendment to the underlying Iran sanctions bill.

"If restrictive measures are taken against Russia, we need to tighten sanctions against the United States in all areas where we cooperate, including economic, political, defense, cultural," Dzhabarov told reporters.

Russia has been hit by a downturn that began in early 2015 after falling oil prices and Western anti-Russia sanctions took bite. The country's GDP fell 3.7 percent in 2015, according to the Russian Federal Statistics Service Rosstat.

On April 18, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its World Economic Outlook report that Russian economic growth is expected to pick up in 2017 — 2018 and will reach 1.4 percent for both years.