Attempts to use the US Navy to block Russia's trade would amount to a declaration of war, a high-ranking senator commented on the US internal secretary's idea of impeding Russia's energy trade through a blockade.

"A US blockade of Russia would be equal to a declaration of war under international law," said the head of the Russian Senate's Information Policy Committee, Aleksey Pushkov, commenting on a report that US Internal Secretary Ryan Zinke suggested the US could use the navy to block Russian energy from hitting Middle East markets.

Pushkov also called Zinke's claim that trade expansion is the real reason behind Russia's involvement in Syria "absolute nonsense."

The very idea that Russia could potentially supply energy to the Middle East, which is literally "oozing with oil," is absolutely detached from reality, Pushkov said. Indeed, Russia does not supply any energy to the region, which is itself a major oil exporter, and has never announced plans to do so.

The Russian senator added that Zinke's statement is "on par" with Sarah Palin's claim that she was qualified to talk about Russia since "they're our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia here from Alaska." The former Alaska governor made the statement in an interview when she was the Republican vice-presidential candidate in the 2008 US election.