MOSCOW, 24 December 2020, (TON): Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow is planning to respond to the recently imposed US sanctions, which he saw as a strategic move of Washington to weaken competition.

The response from Moscow will not only be symmetrical, but will also take steps considering every aspect of Russian-US relations, Lavrov said.

"The United States has long been pursuing a hostile policy towards our country," he said, calling Washington a "completely unreliable" business partner.

The United States aimed to constrain its competitors on international markets with unfair practices, which grossly violated the norms of the World Trade Organization, Lavrov said.

He said that the sanctions were a "blatant disregard for international law," proving that the United States plans to continue to promote and impose its own rules on others.

Earlier, on Monday Washington published a list of Chinese and Russian companies with alleged military ties that restrict them from buying a wide range of US goods and technology.

The US has frequently used sanctions against the Russian state, Russian individuals, and Russian companies since the Boris Yeltsin era, many of them in connection with Russian activities. Sanctions have been a central element of U.S. Russia policy following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and the beginning of the undeclared war in eastern Ukraine. The impact of sanctions on Russia seems partial.