Russia Preparing Response to N Korea-Related US Sanctions on Russian Companies

Moscow is considering appropriate response to the latest US sanctions against Russian companies but does not want to bring bilateral relations to an impasse, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Sputnik on Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The United States on Thursday sanctioned three Russian companies and a Russian citizen over alleged links to sanctions over North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

"As for our possible response [to new restrictive measures introduced], we immediately took this issue into consideration," Ryabkov said.

"We will be determine our answer based on the need not to drive our relations completely to a dead-end and work on the prospect of improving them. Today's actions of the US Treasury do not help accomplishing this task," he added.

The US Treasury Department sanctioned Igor Aleksandrovich Michurin, the Moscow-based companies Ardis-Bearings LLC and Independent Petroleum Company (IPC), and IPC’S subsidiary in Vladivostok, AO NNK-Primornefteproduct.

Moreover, the Treasury sanctioned Russian, Chinese and North Korean nationals in connection with Pyongyang’s ballistics and nuclear programs. The individuals sanctioned were Igor Aleksandrovich Michurin of Russia, Ri Song-hyok from China and Kim Su-kwang from North Korea.

As a result of the sanctions, all of Michurin and the companies’ assets subject to US jurisdiction are frozen and US companies are prohibited from doing business with them.