Russia to challenge US sanctions at WTO

MOSCOW: Russia will contest US sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine at the World Trade Organisation, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Friday.

"The United States has introduced sanctions against Russia which will have negative consequences for external trade. We have decided to challenge them at the WTO," Medvedev said in televised comments.

Washington has slapped sanctions on high-ranking Russian officials and businesses belonging to close allies of President Vladimir Putin over Moscow´s annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March and accusations the Kremlin is stirring up a separatist rebellion. Russia -- which joined the WTO in 2012 -- has already launched several challenges against similar punitive measures by the European Union but this is the first time it has taken on the US sanctions.

Medvedev said that challenging the US penalties would "not be simple as the United States is the authority at the WTO." The West has said it is ready to impose a fresh round of broader economic sanctions on Russia if it continues to destabilise the situation in eastern Ukraine. (AFP)