MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, US President Barack Obama extended sanctions against Russia, which had been imposed in March 2014.
"Yesterday was a routine process, sanctions are implemented at the discretion of the president of the United States, so he can implement them or take them away at any moment. And they're in place for one year, so I guess there was a routine renewal of the ones that were put in place a year ago," Stevens said.
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow regrets Washington's decision to extend sanctions against Russia.
Relations between Russia and the West deteriorated over Crimea's reunification with Russia, as well Moscow's alleged involvement in the Ukrainian internal conflict, claims that Moscow had repeatedly denied. The United States, as well as the European Union and some other countries, imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia's energy, banking and defense industries, prompting Moscow to respond with a food embargo.
