MOSCOW. May 29 (Interfax) - Moscow is taking precautions to prepare for a possible U.S. trade embargo, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday.
"Everyone, including our business community, are well aware that the United States is impossible to negotiate with at all levels and that it is capable of politically motivated decisions that contravene any market practices. Therefore, we are taking certain precautions and are making preparations so that our export capacities are not limited and we find alternate markets for our products," Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow.
"We keep saying that the United States has waged a hybrid war on us. This war is at a hot stage," Ryabkov said.
"A discussion of such options has several objectives. Firstly, to put psychological pressure on a U.S. adversary, i.e. us, and cause uncertainty and concern among members of the business community and society. The second objective is to embed certain ideas, which may eventually acquire specific, practical shape, in the discourse. The United States has been using this technique for decades or even centuries in a variety of areas, and not too much time passes between the emergence of ideas that look unrealistic and their implementation," Ryabkov said.
"So, I cannot rule out that something of this sort will happen at some point. So, we have developed a rather steady trend of refocusing supplies to alternate markets," he said.
This is "part of the game aimed at weakening Russia. We realize that, and our economic authorities and businesses will take countermeasures, which will be practical," Ryabkov said.