Volker, who spoke to journalists at a conference in Belgium, said the latest round of Crimea sanctions, which is to be officially unveiled later on Thursday, will punish those involved in “Russia’s attempts to integrate” the formerly Ukrainian region. Crimea voted in a referendum in 2014 to break up from Ukraine and rejoin Russia after a US-backed armed coup in Kiev deposed Ukraine’s elected government.

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Russia’s response to the latest round of sanctions will mirror the US move in political terms and would be measured in economic sphere to ensure that the retaliation does not hurt Russia’s interests, remarked Konstantin Kosachev, the chair of the Russian Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

Fellow Senator Oleg Morozov said the US sanctions have long been a sort of “political revenge” against Russia for undermining American influence, and have little to do with what actually happens in Crimea. He believes the US imposes new sanctions as a demonstration of force.

“The sanctions do not change our position on either Crimea or Donbas,” he said, referring to the eastern part of Ukraine, where a popular uprising similarly opposing the people, who seized power in Kiev, led to a four-year-long military crackdown by Ukraine. “Crimea is Russia. Donbass will get a political settlement based on the Minsk Agreement,” he said.

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