Lavrov calls economic sanctions over Crimea `dead-end route`

Moscow: Attempts to isolate Moscow through economic sanctions are a dead-end, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday, a day after Washington imposed sanctions on senior Russians over the Ukraine crisis. Referring to "statements made in Washington about economic sanctions," Lavrov said that "following the lead of open Russophobes who are trying to twist this situation so as to isolate Russia, is... a dead-end route and I think serious politicians should not kowtow to such ambitions," according to the state RIA Novosti news agency.