Russia categorically rejects US sanctions - FM

11/08/2018

MOSCOW-- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday he told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Russia categorically rejects the new US sanctions whatever "the pretexts" might be.

During their phone conversation, Lavrov told Pompeo that neither the United States nor the United Kingdom nor did any other country provide any evidence to alleged Russian involvement in the nerve agent attack in London last April.

He was referring to the poisoning of the Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury, England.

Lavrov and Pompeo discussed a range of international issues, including the situation in Syria and the outcomes of the Russian-US summit in Helsinki last month, according to a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who chaired a meeting of the Security Council of Russia earlier today, protested that the US political and economic sanctions run counter to the international law.