Valentina Matviyenko
© Russia's Federation CouncilFederation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko
Russia sees no need for retaliatory sanctions against the West but such a move is possible if a third wave of measures to isolate Moscow is introduced, the speaker of Russia's upper house has said, according to RIA Novosti.

"We do not think it is necessary to adopt retaliatory sanctions, although they have been prepared, considered and weighed. If our partners threatening us with a third round of sanctions do not stop, time may come when we will have to respond," Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said in the Pravo Znat (Right to Know) program on TVC news channel on Saturday.

"But I do not want such a scenario to take place," she added.

Isolating Russia is impossible as it has been integrated into the world economy and is a member of the UN Security Council.

Today European countries are not interested in severing ties with Russia, she stated.

Matviyenko said the Western sanctions against Russia are illegal as they can only be imposed by the UN Security Council. "The sanctions are political, this is an attempt to put pressure on Russia and make it a dependent state and follow the track of the Western partners under threats," she said.

Last month, presidential aide Andrei Belousov said Russia had drafted a confidential document; including reciprocal measures to the Western sanctions. The sanctions could target individuals and companies or entire sectors.

Since March, the US and EU have imposed targeted sanctions against Russian officials over the political crisis in Ukraine, freezing their assets and banning them from obtaining visas, as well as against Russian companies.

The leaders of the G7 group of nations have further threatened Russia with sanctions against key sectors of the country's economy in the event of a further escalation in the Ukrainian crisis.

The EU has said it has a three-stage sanctions process. The third stage, not yet reached, would be broad economic sanctions against entire sectors of the Russian economy.