Moscow believes that the publication of the Russian sanctions list, also known as the Kremlin Report, is an obvious and direct attempt to influence the upcoming elections in Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.

“The answer is affirmative. We really believe that this is a direct and obvious attempt to coincide some actions with the election in order to influence it. We disagree with this and we are convinced that there will be no influence,” Peskov said when asked whether Kremlin viewed the publication of the report as an attempt to destabilize the situation ahead of the election.

The spokesman added that Moscow would analyze the report in order to look into its possible consequences for the interests of Russian companies.

“The publication of the list itself does not mean anything. You know that the publication is not another sanction wave, but of course it will be necessary to examine it and analyze what actions will follow the publication. These actions, of course, will be analyzed in Moscow so that, in any case, our interests and the interests of our companies are ensured as much as possible,” Peskov said.

The US Treasury Department is expected to release a report on Monday that will lay the groundwork for more punitive measures against individuals whom the US authorities believe to be close to the Russian leadership.

Earlier this month, the Kremlin spokesperson said that Russia was ready to respond to all possible allegations by Western media over the legitimacy of the 2018 Russian presidential election, adding that the majority of allegations of fraud and vote-rigging usually had a barely veiled political goal.

Last November, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that the US wanted to create problems during the Russian presidential elections.

Source: Sputnik