Russia warns US on new sanctions

Hours after United States issued new sanctions against Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned Washington that playing with fire was foolish and dangerous.

The United States on Thursday, added 33 people and entities to its Russian defence and intelligence sector blacklist, meaning that anyone who does business with them will face mandatory US sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

"We recommend Washington operators of the sanctions machine to at least superficially study our history to stop fussing around in vain. It would be good for them to also recall the concept of global stability, which they have thoughtlessly rocked by the escalation of tensions in Russian-US relations. Playing with fire is stupid, because it can become dangerous," Ryabkov said in a statement, released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday.

The diplomat noted that each new round of sanctions against Moscow proved that the previous ones had no effect.

"Numerous blacklists of the United States are increasingly overlapping. It is funny, but it is true. We can even see the excitement sweeping through US politicians, who have become prisoners of their beliefs in their exceptionalism and hope that they will be able to impose their conditions on Russia if they put a little more pressure. Nobody will ever be able to do it," Ryabkov stressed.