Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the "Kremlin list" released by the United States was a "hostile step" complicating Russia-U.S. relations and that Moscow will not always continue to yield.
"I do not understand the reason behind such actions. But it is definitely an unfriendly act," Putin said at a meeting with the trustees of the presidential campaign.
"It complicates Russian-American relation, which are in a difficult situation even without this and it also causes damage to the international relations in general," Putin said.
The U.S. Treasury Department late Monday published a list of 114 Russian politicians and 96 business leaders widely seen as potential targets for new sanctions, although the document specified that it should not be interpreted as a sanctions list.
Putin said that Moscow was not interested in severing ties with the United States, adding that the two major nuclear powers are expected by their peoples to "build up their ties in a modern way with respect to each other."
"But everybody must understand that we cannot surrender positions endlessly. Just take a look how it all started," Putin said.
According to the Treasury, each figure in the "Kremlin report" has an estimated net worth of 1 billion U.S. dollars.
It also has classified annexes, which include individuals with a lower official position or with a net worth below 1 billion dollars, as well as companies with state ownership of at least 25 percent and with 2016 revenues of 2 billion dollars or more.
