Russia's Deputy Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that in certain circumstances, sanctions against Moscow may be seen as an act of aggression and a justification for war.
"I would like to point out once again that under certain circumstances such hostile measures can also qualify as an act of international aggression. And even as a casus belli (justification for war)," Medvedev said, adding that Russia has the right to defend itself.
Medvedev, a former Russian president who was once seen as a liberal, has emerged as one of the most hawkish proponents of the war, delivering a series of scathing denunciations of the West.
Russia has faced a barrage of crippling economic sanctions from Western countries in response to its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, which it calls a "special military operation".