Russia seriously and in advance prepared for sanctions, they were basically predictable, said Dmitry Peskov, Russian president's press secretary.

Russia will develop such response measures that will best suit the interests of the country, the Kremlin spokesman said. According to him, measures are immediately taken to minimize the damage from sanctions, the Russian Federation has all the possibilities for this.

Peskov also noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered yesterday to suspend the operation of the Russian army in Ukraine pending negotiations, but Kyiv refused this, and the advance of the main forces continued.