Russian foreign ministry: U.S. and EU sanctions useless

Sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union are useless and doomed to failure, says Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Ryabkov.

“In this context, we are not alone. A range of countries experienced sanctions that were later lifted without achieving their goals. The same will happen in the case of Russia,” Ryabkov said. “This means that both the American and European colleagues see no other methods to achieve their goals, and impose such useless methods that are doomed to failure and are harmful to their own interests.”

As to the implementation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with the United States, Ryabkov sees no progress there. “At the Department of State, it is Rose Gottemoeller who is in charge of the issues related to the short- and intermediate-range missiles. Actually, there is no progress in the issue.”

Ryabkov said the issue was not discussed during the recent visit by Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland to Moscow. “She is not in charge of the short- and intermediate-range missiles. There is such division of responsibilities,” he said.