Kremlin pledges to respond in kind to any 'illegal' new U.S. sanctions

People familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that the United States may announce sanctions on Russia as soon as Thursday for alleged interference in U.S. elections and malicious cyber activity, targeting several individuals and entities. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would wait to see what happened before commenting in detail.

The Kremlin said on Thursday it would respond in kind to any new "illegal" new U.S. sanctions on Russia and said any new measures would reduce the chances of a summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and President Vladimir Putin taking place. People familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that the United States may announce sanctions on Russia as soon as Thursday for alleged interference in U.S. elections and malicious cyber activity, targeting several individuals and entities.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would wait to see what happened before commenting in detail. He also said that the situation around Ukraine remained tense and that it was premature to talk about de-escalation, despite reports that the United States had canceled the deployment of two of its warships to the Black Sea.