MOSCOW. March 17 (Interfax) - Russia might apply symmetric measures in reply to the U.S.' arms embargo, State Duma Defense Committee deputy head Yury Shvytkin said.
"I can't rule out that this would be a commensurate bilateral sanction policy, because we will certainly respond symmetrically, and the imposition of sanctions by the U.S. would hit them as well, in particular. Because some things in this respect remain interrelated between us, anyway," Shvytkin told Interfax on Wednesday.
The Russian defense industry is independent enough to maintain national defense capability at a proper level, even though sanctions can do some damage to it, he said.
"We anticipated this possible scenario, and our defense industry is capable of maintaining our country's defense capability and developing weapons that would be in demand on the market as part of our military-technical cooperation with other countries," he said.
"I wouldn't say that this sanction policy by the U.S. won't damage us at all, but, in my opinion, it harms the relations between the two states, Russia and the U.S.," Shvytkin said.