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Russia has responded with bravado to US sanctions - underneath it though, there will be concern
Moscow has been quick to shrug off the coordinated sanctions against its two biggest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil.
"Counterproductive" is how the Russian Foreign Ministry described the measures. It warned the Trump administration that it would fail and accused the EU of being unable to accept that its sanctions don't work.
Ukraine war latest: Putin ally's warning over sanctions It's a similar response in the papers. "Couldn't you have come up with something better?" asks the Russian tabloid, Komsomolskaya Pravda.
The broadsheet Izvestia newspaper quotes two American "political scientists" who predict the sanctions will backfire and hurt Europe instead. Such bravado was predictable.
Russia never likes to show weakness. Underneath it, though, I think there will be concern.
That's because these aren't just any sanctions. They are coordinated measures which target the economic equivalent of Russia's crown jewels.
I think there is also a degree of surprise at the US sanctions, which mark the first time this Trump administration has taken punitive action against Russia. After months of threats that failed to amount to anything, there seemed to be a belief here that the American president would never actually do it.
That he was all mouth and no trousers. So there'll be surprise at that, and also at how quickly this U-turn has come about.
Less than a week ago, Donald Trump appeared to be buddying up with Vladimir Putin, with talk of a get-together in Budapest. Now all of a sudden, there's no summit, only sanctions.
Will the sanctions work? Will they hurt the "Kremlin's war machine.
Amir Nisi
Creative and experienced content writer with 6+ years of experience lazy to create unique content strategy for News5 to turn website visitors into customers.
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