Russian Foreign Minister: Russia will show tough response to USA's unfriendly moves

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that Moscow will respond toughly to Washington's unfriendly actions. 

In a recent interview with Indonesian newspaper Rakyat Merdeka, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said that USA's attempts to conduct a dialogue with Russia from a position of strength "are doomed to failure from the beginning."

"We will respond harshly and decisively to unfriendly actions," Sergei Lavrov said in the interview. 

According to Lavrov, for a stable and predictable relationship with Moscow, Washington should honestly interact with the Russian side.

In late June, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken threatened Moscow with retaliation should Russia pursue an aggressive policy towards the American side.

"If Russia is going to continue to take reckless or aggressive actions, we'll respond — not for purposes of conflict, not to escalate, but because we will defend our interests and values," Blinken told Italian daily La Repubblica.

As for possible episodes of Russia's aggressive activities of the Russian side, the Secretary of State named:

• alleged involvement in cyber attacks on US companies;
• interference in US elections;
• decisions regarding opposition activist and blogger Alexei Navalny.

According to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, the US administration realizes the exhaustion of the sanctions policy against Russia, but will inertially keep on searching for new reasons to introduce even more restrictions. The inertia of the sanctions surpasses any other segment of the US foreign policy, the official added. 

In June, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the US would continue the policy to contain Russia. Some of the sanctions "have been codified and their implementation does not even depend on the will of the US President," Peskov said. 

On June 29, Anthony Blinken said that the United States was ready to interact with Russia on issues of mutual interest, such as arms control, cooperation in the field of cyber security, and the settlement of regional conflicts. US President Joe Biden then said that Moscow and Washington could cooperate in areas where they shared common interests, such as nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and climate change.