MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. The United States of America is de facto waging an economic war against Russia, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, commenting on the statement by US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland that from the point of view of the US "this Ukraine gambit is a strategic failure for Putin."

"The US, undoubtedly, declared an economic war against Russia and they are waging this war. Yes, de facto this is exactly what it is," the Kremlin official said.

In response to a question as to what are Moscow’s chances not to lose this war considering that the US is attempting to get the entire world involved in sanctions against Russia, Putin’s press secretary said that it is necessary to do "what in the best way corresponds to our interests." He declined to divulge any details on the possible retaliatory sanctions.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Following this, the US, the EU, the UK and a number of other countries announced the introduction of sanctions against Russian legal entities and private individuals.