Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has blasted the latest sanctions efforts coming out of Washington, contending that experience has shown such sanctions "do not work."
Ryabkov's comments on the ministry's website late on August 3 came after the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions targeted against a Russian bank and two North Korean bankers living in Moscow, saying that they, among others, had not complied with UN sanctions imposed on North Korea last year.
The remarks were also directed against legislation recently introduced in Congress to impose "crushing" sanctions on Russia because Moscow allegedly continues to interfere in U.S. political campaigns and target the United States with cyberattacks, among other alleged "malicious" activities.
Ryabkov denounced the "pile of bills surfacing in the U.S. Congress" and claimed that the Treasury's sanctions against Agrosoyuz bank in Moscow "are the 54th sanction attack by the United States on our country since 2011."
Ryabkov said the growing number of sanctions coming out of Washington "will surely fail" to "make Russia swerve from its course."
"Even U.S. politicians, who suffer from a particularly sharp form of Russophobia, have started to admit that attempts to put pressure on Russia do not work,"he said.
Ryabkov claimed Washington legislators are sponsoring get-tough measures against Moscow in an effort to attract votes in the upcoming congressional elections -- something that he said "makes us smile."
