be placed on the u.s. s sanction list but as he shows me some of the machines the club designs, he says sanctions will never cause him or russia to budge. continues to fight. if you stop the fight, you are dead. you continue your fight. you give hope. reporter: as russia s economy buckles under sanctions, unemployment rate soars and its currency tumbles, a majority of russians remain faithful to their president unfazed by pressure from the west. in just a few minutes we re expecting a news conference to begin about the shootings in rural missouri i told you about at the top of the show. the missouri sheriff s office says that nine people have been found dead across multiple sites
retaliated by leveling sanctions, put those in air quotes, against harry reid and four other senators. three white house officials were also on this sanction list. of course, the lawmakers responded in a series of defiant and almost exclamitory statements. dan coates said he was honored. senator menendez responded by saying, so be it. and then senator mccain who joked he would have to cancel his trip to siberia. meanwhile, new evidence that the u.s. sanctions are actually taking a bite out. the russian economy. following president obama s announcement, moscow s benchmark index fell more than 2% in friday stock trading. that russian stock market as a whole has lost 10% this month, and this morning, the fich credit agency rating warned it would downgrade their credit rating.
speaking from the white house briefing room, the president said this could be the first step if russia doesn t reverse course. we are imposing sanctions on specific individuals responsible for undermining the sovereignty and territorial government of ukraine. we are making clear consequences for their actions. if russia continues to interfere with ukraine we stand ready to impose further sanctions. we continue will make it clear to russia to diminish its place in the world. russia is responding to sanctions of its own against their own u.s. senators and congressman. putin is supposed to release his own sanction list as early as today. but it isn t only vladimir putin who is to scuff at the president s move. president obama here at home is facing critics who say he didn t go far enough.
ukranian officials in hopes of putting pressure on putin s inner circle. the president said this could be just the first step if russia doesn t reverse course. we are imposing sanctions on specific individuals responsible for undermining the sovereignty, territorial integrity and government of ukraine. we re making it clear that there are consequences for their actions. if russia continues to interfere, we stand ready to impose further sanctions. we ll continue to make clear it will diminish its place in the world. russian officials are responding with sanctions of their own against our u.s. senators and congressmen. putin is expected to release his own sanction list as early as today. but it isn t only putin who is appearing to scoff at the president s move. here at home president obama is facing critics who say he didn t go far enough. i think vladimir putin must
our own u.s. senators and congressmen. putin is supposed to release his own sanction list as early as today. but it isn t only vladimir putin who is appearing to scoff at the president s move. here at home he is facing criticism. president obama is facing critics who say he didn t go far enough. i think vladimir putin must be encouraged by the absolute timidity. the president said we will consider other options. the president should have said we will provide military assistance to ukraine and that will be in defensive weaponry. that is an ultimate option. joining us from washington now, josh roguan, senior correspondent for the daily beast. you are reporting on the sanctions imposed on u.s. senators. what could they be? right. yesterday, the president told 11 russian and ukrainian officials