A top Kremlin economic aide says Russia could reduce its economic dependency on the United States to zero if Washington imposed sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine.
Sergei Glazyev was quoted as saying Moscow might be forced to drop the dollar as a reserve currency and refuse to pay off any loans to U.S. banks.
He said Russia "would find a way not just to reduce our dependency on the United States to zero but to emerge from those sanctions with great benefits for ourselves."
Glazyev said any attempt to announce U.S. sanctions "would end in a crash for the financial system of the United States."
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee is consulting the Obama administration on possible sanctions against individual Russians following the de facto occupation of Ukraine's Crimea by Russian forces.
Sergei Glazyev was quoted as saying Moscow might be forced to drop the dollar as a reserve currency and refuse to pay off any loans to U.S. banks.
He said Russia "would find a way not just to reduce our dependency on the United States to zero but to emerge from those sanctions with great benefits for ourselves."
Glazyev said any attempt to announce U.S. sanctions "would end in a crash for the financial system of the United States."
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee is consulting the Obama administration on possible sanctions against individual Russians following the de facto occupation of Ukraine's Crimea by Russian forces.