SOCHI, February 14. /TASS/. The US sanctions against Russia in the long run harm America itself, Head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev told TASS on the sidelines of the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi commenting on the new bill of a group of US senators that includes restrictive measures against banking and energy sector and the Russian national debt.
"The proposals have not yet been adopted by Congress, discussions are in progress. We believe that sanctions actually harm the United States in the long term because many countries leave the dollar showing that sanctions are an ineffective tool. It is now impossible to predict the details, as it will still be discussed, but, of course, I think that more and more people understand, including those in the United States, that the sanctions tool does not work and only harms American strategic interest," Dmitriev said.
First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia Sergey Shvetsov told reporters earlier that possible new US sanctions against Russia will have less effect than those introduced earlier. "Even if the laws on sanctions are adopted, we have quite a lot of experience in such conditions. We are much more prepared in the financial market than other countries, so the effect that these sanctions had on 2014 will be much smaller now," Shvetsov said.
The bill in question was presented on Wednesday by a group of US lawmakers. The document suggests, in particular, the introduction of sanctions against 24 FSB officers, who, according to the American side, are related to the Kerch Strait incident in November 2018. US lawmakers are proposing to limit transactions with newly issued Russian sovereign bonds, as well as impose sanctions on energy projects in Russian state-owned companies outside the Russian Federation and some banks.