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Putin discusses response to US sanctions with Russian Security Council

US President Joe Biden signed an order to slap new restrictions on Russia on April 15

MOSCOW, April 16. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin focused on measures in response to the latest round of US anti-Russian sanctions at a meeting with permanent members of Russia’s Security Council, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

"There was a conversation about measures in response to the US sanctions imposed on our country the day before," he said.

"The president also informed the participants in the meeting about his international telephone contacts held this week," the press secretary added. Among those talks, Putin held a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden on April 13.

Peskov recalled that military construction was in the spotlight of Putin’s meeting with the Security Council.

"Apart from that, they discussed current issues of Russia’s domestic socioeconomic agenda," Peskov said.

The meeting was attended by Speaker of the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) Vyacheslav Volodin, Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, Kremlin Chief of Staff Anton Vaino, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, along with Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov and Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergei Naryshkin.

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order imposing sanctions on Russia. In particular, Washington prohibits US companies "from participation in the primary market for ruble or non-ruble denominated bonds" issued by Russia’s Central Bank, Finance Ministry and National Wealth Fund. In addition, 16 entities and 16 individuals were sanctioned for Moscow’s alleged interference in the US presidential election, and eight more entities and individuals for their work in Crimea. Ten Russian diplomats, who the United States claims to be "representatives of Russian intelligence services," face expulsion from Washington.