The situation in the Crimea remains roughly unchanged, and US officials continue to ratchet up threats to impose sanctions on Russia, saying they are determined to punish Russia for its involvement in the Ukraine.
Russian officials are warning that sanctions are a two-way street, however, with the Foreign Ministry saying that they would “have to respond” to any US sanctions, though their preference is to not engage in such moves.
Top Putin aide Sergei Glazyev went into more detail about what this might look like, saying that any asset freezes would be met with reneging on loans giving to Russian institutions by US banks.
Glazyev went on to warn that if a sanctions war picked up, Russia would ditch the dollar as its currency of choice, and would “reduce to nothing our financial dependence on the United States.”
