MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. Russia has already started working on retaliatory measures against the new US sanctions, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday in the wake of Washington’s expansion of anti-Russian sanctions.

"We have already started working on our reciprocal measures," he said without hinting when they might follow. "I believe further demonstrative, tough actions (on the part of the US) are possible. We are ready for them," the diplomat said.

"This move (extension of sanctions) has added nothing new from the point of view of Russia’s evaluation of Washington’s behavior on the global arena". "These are the same political round dances around the absolutely groundless and having absolutely nothing to do with the reality accusations of Russia’s alleged interference in domestic processes in the US," the deputy foreign minister said.

"A general atmosphere of antagonism towards us as a factor in the internarial life has extremely thickened in the US. They are bound hand and foot by their own hysteria into which they slid despite our appeals to stop and start pulling out relations out of a steep dive, establish a dialogue. Unfortunately, this is not happening," the diplomat went on.

The US administration has for the first time applied the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) to impose sanctions against Russian citizens and organizations. The relevant information was circulated on Thursday by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury.

The list included 12 individuals who had previously been charged by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating allegations of Moscow's influence on the last election and possible collusion between Moscow and Donald Trump’s campaign.

The list includes Sergey Afanasyev and Grigory Molchanov, who, according to the US government are connected with the Main Directorate (formerly GRU) of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

The US Treasury also introduced restrictive measures against the Internet Research Agency. The US Justice Department accused employees of this Russian company of being involved in the election meddling in 2016.