MOSCOW (Dispatches) --
Russia’s economy has adapted well to years of Western sanctions and so it does not fear the prospect of more such measures, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
The European Union, which has imposed 11 sanctions packages against Russia since Moscow sent its armed forces into Ukraine in February 2022, said last week it was trying to shut loopholes in existing sanctions, while Poland has proposed further measures.
EU officials have also suggested the sanctions could remain in place for years after the conflict in Ukraine ends.
Asked about such a prospect, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Russia has been living under a sanctions regime for quite a long time, for decades, and we have sufficiently adapted to it, so such time horizons as five-to-10 years do not scare us.”
“As for new packages, yes, they are being prepared, this is quite well known and predictable ... We can only wait to see what else our opponents will come up with,” he said in a regular call with reporters.
Russia argues that the sanctions have helped to boost domestic industrial production and says they will never deter it from pursuing what it sees as its vital national interests in Ukraine.
Moscow accuses Western powers of using Ukraine to attempt to weaken and undermine Russia’s own security.
Peskov on Tuesday denied claims by former president Donald Trump that Russia stole information on a “super-duper missile” from the U.S.
“We have our own rocket, a wonderful rocket,” he said.
Peskov said that it is difficult to say whether Russia’s missile fits Trump’s description of a “super-duper,” but that it is “a good missile that has no analogues in the world yet.”
Peskov said that Russia has “more than one” of such missiles.
Earlier, Trump claimed during a campaign rally in Derry, New Hampshire that Russia stole classified plans for “a super-duper missile” during the administration of Barack Obama.