'Stuck in a rut': Russia mocks Trump's sanction threat, says 'have developed certain immunity'

As US President Donald Trump sharpens his rhetoric on Russia’s role in the Ukraine war, the Kremlin has brushed off his threat of fresh sanctions as predictable and ineffective. Moscow officials claim the country has adapted to years of economic pressure, minimising the impact of punitive Western measures.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian economy has been functioning under “a huge number of restrictions” and is now largely immune to additional penalties.

Echoing that sentiment, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed the new threat as “routine,” saying Washington and its allies appear unable to move beyond their sanctions playbook.

“It seems as if they are constantly stuck in a rut,” she said, arguing that the sanctions have failed to change Moscow’s course and instead backfired on Western economies. The comments signal that Russia is likely to continue its current posture on Ukraine, even in the face of renewed pressure from a possible second Trump administration.

“We have been living under a huge number of sanctions for quite a long time, our economy operates under a huge number of restrictions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“Therefore, of course, we have already developed a certain immunity in this regard, and we continue to note all statements that come from President Trump, from other international representatives on this matter."

Trump said on Tuesday that the United States would start imposing tariffs and other measures on Russia in 10 days if Moscow showed no progress towards ending its more than three-year-long war in Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the threat of new sanctions “routine” and said it was odd that the US and the West had not yet understood that imposing such measures did not work and only served to hurt Western economies.

“We see that the West simply cannot let go of the issue of sanctions. It seems as if they are constantly stuck in a rut,” Zakharova told a news briefing in Moscow.

“Apparently, there are no other options left - they have been exhausted. We are responding and taking measures to counteract all of this or even turn it to our own advantage."

With inputs from agencies