April 8th – U.S. media quoted sources on the 8th as saying that the United States is studying the expansion of sanctions against Russia and other retaliation measures. On the same day, the Russian Kremlin responded, saying that Moscow should be prepared for the worst.
“Russia must be prepared for the worst of the U.S. launches sanctions,” Kremlin spokesman Peskov told reporters Thursday (8th) for the hostile and unpredictable policies of Washington, according to Reuters. The hostility and unpredictability of American behavior force us to prepare for the worst.” Peskov said.
Speaking about Russian-US relations during his visit to Kazakhstan on the 8th, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said that Washington’s policy has led to an impasse in Russian-American relations, and this policy “may even be stupid”. In response, Peskov said that Lavrov’s wording was as accurate as ever.
According to Bloomberg on the 8th, according to three people familiar with the matter, the United States has completed its intelligence review of Russia’s “suspected cyber sabotage activities and interference in the election”, and is studying retaliation measures such as expanding sanctions against Russia. Biden administration officials have ended their censorship of alleged hacking and interfering in the U.S. election through Sunwind, and possible measures include sanctions and expulsion of Russian diplomats who they believe to be intelligence agents, people familiar with the matter said. Previously, Moscow repeatedly refuted the relevant allegations of the United States, saying that they were groundless.
Vladimir Djabarov, the first vice chairman of the Committee on International Affairs of the Russian Federation, told the Russian News Agency earlier Thursday that Russia may respond to the expulsion of Russian diplomats by the United States with the same countermeasures.
