Russia studying response to U.S. sanctions - deputy PM

Moscow will decide on counter sanctions after analysing the impact of U.S. sanctions on Russia and will do everything to ensure that sanctions do not hurt domestic production of metals, RIA news agency quoted Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich as saying on Friday.

"Of course, we will do everything possible so that domestic production doesn't shrink, and grows instead," Dvorkovich was quoted as saying. "We will, among other things take certain individual limiting measures with regards to those countries, who introduced sanctions on us, if we don't need them, if we have our own capacity. We will grow our own capacity, of course. But work is ongoing, we are analysing each concrete commodity..."

Russia's lower house of parliament is to consider draft legislation that would give the Kremlin powers to ban or restrict a list of U.S. imports, reacting to new U.S. sanctions on a group of Russian tycoons and officials.