Russian Lower House Passes Bill on Countermeasures to US', Allies' Sanctions

According to the bill, the goal of the legislation is to defend Russia's sovereignty from "unfriendly actions" by Washington and other foreign states that have imposed political and economic sanctions on Moscow.

The Russian State Duma, the lower house of the parliament, has passed a bill on response measures to sanctions imposed by the US and "other unfriendly countries."

As stated in the document, the government will be able to impose different countermeasures, which, however, shouldn't be applied to any essentials and goods not produced in Russia.

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"The purpose of this federal law is to protect the interests and security of Russia, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, rights and freedoms of Russian citizens from unfriendly actions by the United States and other foreign states, including those that impose political or economic sanctions against Russia, Russian citizens or Russian legal entities, in committing other actions that threaten the territorial integrity of Russia or aimed at the economic and political destabilization of Russia," the text of the document says.

On April 6, Washington unveiled new sanctions on Russia over what it described as "global destabilization efforts." The sanctions list included senior government officials, and lawmakers, as well as major business owners and private and state-owned companies under their control.

In response, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow reserves the right to respond to the new US anti-Russia sanctions and may review trade deals.

The Russian Embassy in the United States said that the new package of sanctions is another hit to bilateral relations, adding that the sanctions will hurt thousands of Russian citizens who are part of the businesses that were targeted.