MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. The Kremlin is aware of possible new US sanctions against Russia, however, the approval of some of them does not depend on the will of the US president at this point, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
"We are aware of possible upcoming sanctions that have been codified. The thing is that some of the sanctions are codified. Their introduction does not depend on the will of the US president at this point. Some of the sanctions are in this codified category," he explained.
Peskov added that "the nuances of these sanctions" depend on the US leader, however. "That is, there should be sanctions under the law, but it depends on the head of state which ones will be selected," the spokesman said. He noted that the Kremlin is analyzing the situation and considering different options regarding the new US sanctions.
According to him, Russia needs predictability in the relations with Moscow, but Washington continues its sanctions policy. "We really do need predictability. In terms of its sanction plans and actual sanction dependence, Washington demonstrates continuity and unpredictability at the same time," Peskov said. "For the time being, there really is a large share of unpredictability. Only codified sanctions are predictable."
Russia hopes that the situation with the United States failing to comply with agreements will not be repeated after the summit in Geneva, he added. "We have repeatedly encountered stories when an understanding reached at the highest level is later doomed to complete inaction," he said. "We really faced the situation when the heads of state agree on one thing, but there is no implementation at all in a different trajectory. I really want to hope that this time it will be different," Peskov stated.
The spokesman also dismissed attempts to estimate the outcomes of the Russia-US summit by the sanctions approved by Washington as "primitive." According to him, the relations between two major states that are currently going through a difficult period "are much more multifaceted, more difficult, more contradictory." "So we need a more balanced and serious assessment here," the Kremlin official concluded.
Planned US sanctions
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated on Sunday that Washington is preparing new sanctions against Russia over the situation with Alexey Navalny. According to him, US officials continue to introduce sanctions against Russian companies involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.