Russia's foreign ministry today condemned the United State's new economic sanctions against Moscow, labelling them "absurd" and reserving the right to a "response". This "absurd sanctions campaign has not succeeded and will not lead to any results," the ministry said in a statement. "If the American authorities prefer to break economic ties... with Russia, it is their right, as it is ours to reserve the right to a response". The fresh sanctions, which were announced by the US Treasury earlier on Friday, target Russian officials who supplied turbines to a power plant in annexed Crimea, as well as several "ministers" from the breakaway region in eastern Ukraine. A total of 21 people and nine companies were hit with the sanctions, some of them over the turbines, which were built by German engineering giant Siemens for delivery to Russia but were later sent on to Crimea -- which Russia seized from Ukraine and annexed in 2014. Moscow said the new sanctions were imposed "under the pretext of inventing Russia's involvement in the Ukrainian crisis", adding that the US is merely "showing the whole world its own powerlessness". "Washington cannot shed the illusion that it is possible to scare us by refusing US visas or by trade bans," the statement said.
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