Russia on Monday said it was "bewildered" by fresh US sanctions and vowed to retaliate following what it called an "anti-Russian attack".
The foreign ministry said the new sanctions on several Russians -- including a businessman tied to President Vladimir Putin and a disinformation operation accused of conspiring to manipulate the US 2018 midterm election -- "will not go unanswered."
The foreign ministry said the sanctions were part of an "internal political crisis" in the United States in which "Russian issues are deliberately used by part of the Washington establishment as a tool to achieve their own opportunistic goals."