Kremlin says has plans in place to hedge against possible U.S. sanctions

MOSCOW, Feb 2 (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia had plans in place to hedge against possible U.S. sanctions and to minimise their consequences and urged the White House to stop “whipping up tensions” in Europe.

Washington and NATO have so far refused to give Moscow guarantees it is seeking that the Western military alliance will stop expanding and won’t deploy offensive weapons to Ukraine. Russia has amassed tens of thousands of troops in reach Ukraine’s border, but says it has no plans to invade.

The United States has said it will impose sanctions in the event of a new Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Washington’s behaviour was unpredictable and that Moscow was preparing to mitigate the effect of any such sanctions.

He said there were no immediate plans for a second round of Russia-U.S. talks on the security guarantees sought by Moscow.

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov Writing by Olzhas Auyezov Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Photo – Police officers wearing protective face masks patrol the Red Square during the pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus after a snowfall in Moscow, Russia. EPA-EFE/MAXIM SHIPENKOV