MOSCOW, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- New anti-Russian sanctions proposed by U.S. senators Marco Rubio and Ben Cardin will not have the desired effect, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.
"All those who have a more or less politically mature view of the situation should have understood long time ago that sanctions do not work in the desired direction. I think they will never work," Lavrov said at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.
The U.S. senators on Tuesday sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, urging them to impose sanctions on some Russian officials responsible for "human rights abuses".
They proposed, in particular, to impose sanctions on Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov and Federal Penitentiary Service Director Gennady Kornienko.
Russian media reported Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed a decree relieving 65-year-old Kornienko of his duties.
