MOSCOW. Aug 9 (Interfax) - Moscow may enforce the countersanctions law in response to the United States' sanctions over the Skripal affair, State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Leonid Slutsky told the press on Thursday.
"As for Russia's possible reaction, this is traditionally the prerogative of the executive authorities. I am confident that a proportionate answer will be given under these circumstances. For their part, lawmakers have provided a complete set of legal instruments by adopting the countersanctions law during the spring session," Slutsky said.
He also commented on the United States' intention to impose new sanctions on Russia over the Salisbury incident.
"The United States is ready to use any pretext to deter Russia and aggressively promote their interests. The intention to impose sanctions over the Skripal affair without any proof whatsoever is another sign of unbridled Russophobic hysteria," Slutsky said.
This course of action indirectly proves the opinion of certain experts that Washington might have been the ideologist behind the anti-Russian campaign started by London over the Salisbury incident, he said.
"By imposing sanctions over the Skripal affair, the United States will finalize the transformation of international law into a theater of the absurd and turn to ashes such notions as evidence and the presumption of innocence," Slutsky said.
It is unfortunate that the number of sober- and constructive-minded politicians in the United States has been on the decline, he said. "We will keep working with those who have not given in to collective insanity and will try to restore our dialogue," he said.