MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Russia will refrain now from any tit-for-tat steps in response to the US 'Kremlin List,' Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the meeting with his authorized representatives on Tuesday.
"We expected this list and I won’t hide that we were ready to take tit-for-tat steps, rather serious ones, which could reduce our relations to zero. But we will refrain from these steps now," the Russian leader said.
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"But we will carefully watch how the situation develops as there is also a classified list there, and they say there are more names with an asterisk. We should look into this and how this will all happen," Putin warned.
On Monday, the US Treasury Department published the unclassified portion of the 'Kremlin List' that includes all members of the Russian government and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the leadership of the presidential administration and heads of state corporations and banks, and also businessmen with a net worth of $1 billion or more.
The list, which has 210 names, is divided into several sections - the presidential administration, the cabinet of ministers, as well as "political leaders" and "oligarchs." It also has a classified annex with "additional information." The persons on this list "may hold a position below those included in the unclassified report or have a net worth under $1 billion."
This is not a sanctions list and no restrictions are being slapped on those mentioned in the document, the Treasury Department stresses.