MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/. The deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, believes that anti-Russian sanctions can be regarded as an act of aggression. In this case, Moscow has the right to self-defense, which it is free to use, he said on his Telegram channel on Friday.
"The whole combination of the legal and political circumstances prompts the conclusion that sanctions in the current situation can be qualified as an act of aggression against Russia and a form of hybrid war," Medvedev wrote. "In this case, the country that has been subjected to aggression, in other words, Russia, has the right to individual and collective defense within the framework of national legislation and international law. Nobody should feel any doubts that Russia will use this right in a way and to the extent it will find appropriate."
Medvedev stressed that "illegal sanctions under certain circumstances may be qualified as an act of aggression by certain countries or their alliances."
"In the first place, when they are aimed at undermining economic independence, and, consequently, state sovereignty, which endangers the very existence of the state. As a matter of fact, as our opponents say, it is a declaration of economic war," he explained.