Moscow brands fresh sanctions 'blackmail' as jet is shot down

The United States and the European Union bolstered sanctions against Russia over its alleged support of separatists in Ukraine, drawing an angry rebuke on Thursday from Moscow which said the measures amounted to "blackmail".

US President Barack Obama, with sanctions imposed on Wednesday, took his first direct swipes at the Russian economy's finance, military and energy sectors, further escalating the worst standoff between the Krem-lin and the West since the Cold War.

Washington had warned last week that Moscow had to demonstrate a clean break from separatists or face the tougher sanctions.

But Kiev laid new allegations against Russia on Thursday, saying a Russian fighter jet on Wednesday shot down a Ukrainian war-plane over its territory.

Ukraine's Security Council spokesman Andrei Lysenko said in a televised briefing that the pilot of the Sukhoi-25 jet was forced to bail from his craft after it was shot down Wednesday evening by a missile fired from a Russian plane.

The Defense Ministry said a second jet was hit by a portable surface-to-air missile, but that pilot was unscathed and managed to land his plane safely.

The rebels, meanwhile, claimed responsibility on Wednesday for strikes on two Sukhoi-25 jets.

The Russian foreign ministry reacted to the new sanctions in a furious statement: "We do not intend to tolerate blackmail and reserve the right to take retaliatory measures".

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier warned that sanctions would inflict "very serious damage" on the already tattered US-Russia relationship.

"Without any doubt in this case they are driving Russia-US relations toward a dead-end, and are inflicting very serious damage on them," Putin said while on a visit to Brasilia, Brazil.

"I am convinced that this will harm the national long-term interests of the American state, the American people."

US sanctions like the ones imposed "have never put anyone on their knees", added Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, predicting a "rise of anti-American attitudes".

Medvedev said the sanctions would not help Ukraine, where separatists have rebelled in eastern regions, and would fuel anti-US sentiment in Russia.

"There will be a further consolidation by Russian society against those countries and people who try to contain our country and act against the interests of its citizens," he said.

Moscow gave a milder response to EU sanctions, with the foreign ministry saying it had "submitted to blackmail from the American administration" and should have "its own voice".

Ukraine hailed the tougher sanctions, with Western-backed President Petro Poroshenko saying he welcomed the EU moves that involve the European Investment Bank and European Bank of Reconstruction and Development halting finance for projects in Russia.

AFP - Reuters - AP

(China Daily 07/18/2014 page12)