Russia vows retaliation against latest US sanctions

MOSCOW - The Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Moscow would retaliate against Washington's latest package of sanctions, adding that the response would not necessarily be symmetrical.

"We will announce retaliatory measures in the near future... the blame for the destruction of Russian-US relations lies entirely with Washington," it said in a statement, citing Alexander Darchiev, who heads the ministry's North American affairs department.

Darchiev added that Washington's actions have become a routine practice, and the recent decision to impose a fresh package of sanctions against Russian officials and the country's financial sector show that the United States had clearly ran out of restrictive measures.

"Not a single aggressive attack against Russia will go unanswered," he said, adding that this would only unite the Russian people, and end in "a humiliating defeat" for the enemy.