Russia mocks US sanctions threats: ‘We learned to live with that’

Russia's top United Nations envoy has mocked persisting US-led threats of sanctions against his country amid the raging row over the Ukraine conflict, saying, “We learned to live with that.”

"We've been sanctioned so many times that we lost count," said Vasily Nebenzya during a press briefing at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday while warning of a potential backlash. "I hope they will have enough reason not to move forward with that. But that will backfire."

Nebenzya made the remarks in response to a question on how Moscow would react to the sanctions promised by Washington and its European allies.

It came a day after the Russian UN ambassador blasted the US for staging a Security Council meeting on the Ukraine crisis, accusing Washington of attempting to "whip up hysteria" in a bid to mislead the world community about the actual state of affairs around Ukraine, describing the effort as an example of “megaphone diplomacy.”

Nebenzya further slammed Washington for fomenting unfounded allegations against Moscow and reiterated there was “no proof” Russia is planning to invade Ukraine, and that the talk of war by the US is “provocative.”

The American UN envoy had earlier claimed that the Russian deployment of more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine's borders justified the debate at the UNSC, a notion fiercely rejected by Nebenzya, who explained that Russia had frequently deployed troops within its own territory without “causing hysterics.”

ME