Russia says will ditch U.S. securities amid sanctions: RIA

On Friday, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would regard any U.S. move to curb the activities of its banks as a "declaration of economic war" and would take retaliatory action. Washington said on Wednesday it would impose fresh sanctions by the end of August after it determined that Moscow had used a nerve agent against a former Russian agent and his daughter in Britain, sending Russia's rouble currency to a two-year low. Speaking on a weekly TV talk show, Siluanov said the new U.S. sanctions, some of which could restrict purchases of Russian government bonds, were "unpleasant but not fatal".