MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. The Kremlin regrets that Washington continues its destructive policy against Russia and adequate measures in response to the expansion of sanctions will be taken, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.
"We regret that Washington continues this destructive line. We still disagree with this line and we believe that it very seriously harms our bilateral relations. Certainly, as this has been already in practice, the Russian side will take adequate measures," Peskov said.
"We can only once again express regret and misunderstanding over this destructive persistence of our US colleagues," Peskov said commenting on the US decision.
On December 20, the US Treasury Department announced that it expands the sanctions against Russia in connection with events in Ukraine. It designated seven more individuals and eight entities related to Russia and Ukraine, and identified two vessels as blocked property in order "to maintain the effectiveness of existing sanctions."
In 2014, the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia over the Ukrainian crisis and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. Some of the Russian officials were barred from entering EU countries and the US; in addition to that their assets were frozen. Likewise, trade, financial and military restrictions were also introduced. These sanctions have been repeatedly extended and expanded.
US-Russian relations
The Kremlin believes that the relations between Russia and the United States are in a deplorable state and accompanied by "an extreme degree of distrust."
"Unfortunately, our bilateral relations are now accompanied by an extreme degree of distrust and these relations are in quite deplorable state," Peskov told journalists.
Russian President Vladimir Putin consistently stands for bringing the relations out of this state, the Kremlin spokesman said.
Commenting on the media reports that US President Barack Obama used the ‘red telephone’ of direct communication between Washington and Moscow to discuss the problem of hacker attacks with the Russian leader, the Kremlin spokesman said "this is a normal secure communication line, which the heads of state use for telephone negotiations."
According to the Kremlin spokesman, this hotline is used for all the talks between the presidents of both countries.
As the presidential spokesman said, during various talks Obama numerously mentioned cyber attacks that had allegedly been carried out by Russian hackers.
"But each time, unfortunately, we could not get some more or less reasonable substantiation of these accusations, some specific facts or something else," Peskov said.
"And, that is why, of course, all these accusations are completely unfounded and are not backed by any arguments," the Kremlin spokesman said.