New sanctions against Russia will not work: Lavrov

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, Reuters reports.

"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".