Kremlin says US sees Russia as enemies

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Kremlin says Monday’s publication of the U.S. list of Russian officials and businessmen as part of a sanctions law shows that the United States views the entire Russian government as enemies.

The Trump administration late Monday released a long-awaited list of 114 Russian politicians and 96 “oligarchs” who have flourished under President Vladimir Putin, fulfilling a demand by Congress that the U.S. punish Moscow for interfering in the 2016 U.S. election.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday that Moscow would like to take time to analyze the list which he described as “unprecedented” in its scope. Peskov said Russia has yet to understand how individuals on the list, their activities and reputation abroad might be affected.

Although he said Russia should not “give in to emotions” before studying the list and its implications carefully, Peskov pointed out to the name of the law: “On countering America’s adversaries through sanctions.”

“De-facto everyone has been called an adversary of the United States,” he said.

Peskov, as a member of the Kremlin administration, is on the list.

The Kremlin also indicated that it didn’t view the U.S. administration’s announcement that it would not impose any new sanctions on Russia for now as any sort of reassurance. Peskov said the Kremlin noted that new sanctions might still be imposed later.