Russia’s Foreign Ministry reacted critically to the US Treasury Department’s new announcement of sanctions on Tuesday, saying the allegations of malicious cyber activities were “groundless.” The cyber activities were allegedly centered on evading previous sanctions.
The sanctions targeted Slovakia-based Lacno SRO and Russia’s Vela-Marine. The Russian company said it was baffled by the decision to target them, as the US claimed the diving equipment they provided to the Russian government was used to violate sanctions.
Russian officials said the whole sanctions effort was done under “false pretense,” and that Russia would soon offer a retaliation against the US over the sanctions. Both sides have launched tit-for-tat measures against one another for years, and despite the Trump Administration wanting to improve relations, they are constantly hitting Russia with new sanctions.
Where this all ends is anyone’s guess, but Russia has tended to make its retaliatory moves as close as possible to identical to the US moves. this likely means they’ll target a couple of Western companies and officials in this case.
