MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, the US Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) introduced sanctions against some 40 individuals and entities over their alleged involvement in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine. The list of those under the new sanctions includes several high-ranking Crimean officials and Russian Special Presidential Representative for Cooperation with Organizations Representing Russians Living Abroad Alexander Babakov, as well as the PMC Wagner private military company, three banks operating in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and six banks operating in Crimea.
"They continue on that dead-end road. The previous wave of sanctions achieved absolutely no results, and clearly, new sanctions will have the same effect. The only goal for this is to have more tension and complicate relations between America and Russia," Mariani said.
The lawmaker added that he was "a bit disappointed," as he was expecting changes in US policies under President Donald Trump.
"In fact, the same politics prevail. I believe that political and economic elite behind Senator [John] McCain and [billionaire George] Soros are pushing for that," Mariani said.
During his election campaign in 2016, Trump announced he "would be looking" into lifting the sanctions against Russia and recognizing Crimea as a Russian territory.
