The U.S. is waging a “de facto economic war” and Russia could react with retaliatory actions, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday. Peskov was commenting on the U.S. ban on Russian energy imports and a comment on the war by Victoria Nuland, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, that the U.S. “must ensure that this Ukraine gambit is a strategic failure for Putin.”
The U.S., European Union, United Kingdom and a scores of other nations have also introduced sanctions against Russian legal entities and private individuals.
“The U.S., undoubtedly, declared an economic war against Russia and they are waging this war,” Peskov said. He said Russia will do “what in the best way corresponds to our interests” but gave no details on the possible retaliatory sanctions.
The Chernobyl Nuclear Plant, occupied by Russian troops for several days, has been disconnected from the power grid and is a threat to leak radioactive substances, Ukraine’s Ukrenergo National Power Company said. Repairs are impossible because of enemy fire and the military presence, the utility said.
The state-run nuclear company Energoatom said radioactive substances could be released from the plant because it cannot properly cool spent nuclear fuel. The International Atomic Energy Agency, however, said the spent fuel storage pool and the volume of cooling water are “sufficient for effective heat removal” without access to electricity
