US sanctions against Russia senseless: Sergey Lavrov

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: The upcoming new round of US sanctions against Russia will be senseless like the previous ones, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview.

“I did not warn, I just said that this is senseless, nothing else. I said that the goal of this move is unclear. If they did not understand that the sanctions are not working, I feel sorry for them,” Lavrov said answering a question if Russia can counter new US sanctions.

On February 12, a group of US legislators put forward a new bill, obliging the Trump administration to slap new restrictions on Moscow. The US legislation stipulates introducing sanctions against 24 agents of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), whom Washington accuses of being linked to the November 2018 Kerch Strait incident, when Russia detained 24 Ukrainian seamen over violating the rules of passage.

The legislators suggest restrictions on transactions with Russian sovereign bonds and also sanctions against energy projects by Russian state companies abroad and certain banks.