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Putin spokesman says Russia weighs retaliation

Posted at 4:22 PM, Dec 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-29 16:22:03-05

WASHINGTON (AP) — The spokesman for President Vladimir Putin says Moscow regrets the new sanctions that the Obama administration imposed on Russia on Thursday and is considering retaliatory steps.

Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that the measures signal Obama’s “unpredictable” and “aggressive foreign policy.”

Peskov says “Such steps of the U.S. administration that has three weeks left to work are aimed at two things: to further harm Russian-American ties, which are at a low point as it is, as well as, obviously, deal a blow on the foreign policy plans of the incoming administration of the president-elect.”

President Barack Obama on Thursday imposed sanctions on Russian officials and intelligence services in retaliation for Russia’s hacking of American political sites and email accounts ahead of the November election. Peskov on Thursday reiterated that Russia was not involved in the hacking.

Peskov said Putin has yet to study what the new sanctions involve and work out what retaliatory steps could be.