Lavrov denounces Washington's 'Russophobe obsession'

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday denounced Washington's "Russophobe obsession" after the United States beefed up its trade sanctions against Moscow for its role in the Ukraine crisis. "I can only express my regrets at the Russophobe obsession of our (US) colleagues", Lavrov told a joint press conference with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian. The US Treasury Department said in Washington earlier Tuesday that the strengthened sanctions targeted individuals and organisations connected to the continuing conflict in eastern Ukraine and would remain in place until Russia met obligations under peace accords of 2014 and 2015. Washington's move came the day after the European Union rolled over for another year its own sanctions imposed to protest Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. However Le Drian, in Moscow, stressed that France has no wish to isolate Russia. "We are not seeking Russia's isolation from the rest of Europe, nor its economic weakening," Le Drian told reporters on Tuesday, adding: "We must understand one another."