Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has struck a defiant tone, saying the Nord Stream 2 and Turk Stream gas pipeline projects will be launched despite U.S. sanctions.

Quoted by the Interfax news agency on December 22, Lavrov said that Russia planned to respond to the new measures.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill on December 22 that included legislation imposing sanctions on firms laying pipe for Nord Stream 2, which seeks to double gas capacity along the northern Nord Stream pipeline route to Germany.

More sanctions against Russia for its alleged interference in democratic processes abroad as well as its “malign” actions in Syria and aggression against Ukraine —known as the "sanctions bill from hell" — has been approved by a U.S. Senate committee but has not been put to a vote in Congress.

In other remarks, Lavrov said Russia was prepared to include the heavy Sarmat missile and the Avangard hypersonic missile if the New START arms treaty with the United States is extended.

Russia is also ready to demonstrate the Sarmat missile to the United States, Interfax cited Lavrov as saying on a talk show on Russian state television.