Kremlin ponders next moves after being hit by US sanctions

MOSCOW (AP) — Hit by a barrage of new sanctions from the Biden administration, the Kremlin is carefully weighing its response in a tense showdown with the United States. While the U.S. wields the power to cripple the Russian economy, Moscow lacks levers to respond in kind but it potentially could hurt American interests in many other ways around the globe. Despite its heated rhetoric, Moscow will likely refrain from raising the stakes too high, for now, to avoid provoking even harder-hitting punitive measures from the U.S. But some observers predict that Russia and China will quickly edge closer to coordinate their policies amid the growing U.S. pressure.