Top Russian official: Western sanctions could be casus belli

MOSCOW (AP) — A senior Russian official has warned that Moscow could see Western sanctions as a cause for war. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, denounced the Western restrictions as “boorish and cynical” and noted that they border on “economic war.” He said Thursday that “under certain circumstances, such hostile measures could be perceived as an act of international aggression, or even as a casus belli.” He emphasized that the Western sanctions over Russia’s military action in Ukraine “have a clear goal – to inflict as much pain as possible to as many citizens of our country as they can … to ordinary citizens, not the country’s leadership or business elites.”