US Sanctions Against Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service Have No Practical Sense

"America's sanctions against our service have no practical sense and the US government only needs them to put more pressure on the President of Russian Federation. Moreover, our colleagues – the drug enforcement police officers of the US – were strongly against such measures, but nobody listened to them," Ivanov said on Saturday.

Russian Federal Drug Control Service Chief Viktor Ivanov was among the high-ranking Russian politicians, included in the extended version of the US' sanctions list in March. The blacklisted individuals are banned from entering the United States and their US assets are frozen.

The White House has also suspended a number of bilateral meetings and operations, involving Russian officials, targeted by the US sanctions over the Ukrainian crisis.

In August, Viktor Ivanov stated that Russian-US anti-drug cooperation was affected by the imposed sanctions as US police officers have been banned from communicating with the Russian official. However, Ivanov has offered to continue cooperation despite the sanctions, stressing that the problem of drug trafficking remains an issue of concern for both countries.

RIA Novosti