Russia will retaliate against a new round of Western sanctions over Ukraine and may block flights through its airspace

Russia will retaliate against a new round of Western sanctions over Ukraine and may block flights through its airspace, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview published on Monday.
  
Medvedev also suggested that Western sanctions would not make the Kremlin change its course, adding that Russians -- like the Chinese -- would simply pull together in the face of new punitive measures.
  
The European Union is expected on Monday to consider new sanctions against Russia.
  
Brussels said it was ready to review the need for new sanctions if a truce agreed between Kremlin-backed rebels and Kiev forces holds in eastern Ukraine.
  
"I was hoping that our partners would be smarter. Alas ..." Medvedevtold the liberal business daily Vedomosti. "If there are sanctions related to energy, further limits for our financial sector we will have to respond asymmetrically," he said, adding that Russia may target flights over Russia.
  
"We proceed from the fact that we have friendly relations with our partners and that is why the sky over Russia is open for flights. But if they put limits on us we will have to respond."
  
Medvedev said that the ban could mean that "many airlines" would go bankrupt. "But that is a bad story. We just want our partners to realize it at some point," he said. "Sanctions certainly don't help bring peace in Ukraine. They hit wide off the mark and an absolute majority of politicians realize that," he said.