MOSCOW, July 29 (RIA Novosti) – Peter Harrell of the US State Department arrived in Seoul in order to persuade South Korea to impose sanctions against Russia, the Chosun Libo newspaper reported Tuesday.
"Washington wants us to partially join sanctions on Russia or at least refrain from strengthening cooperation with Russia," a South Korean official was cited as saying by Chosun Libo.
Harrell deals with economic sanctions and counter-threat finance at the US State Department.
The first round of sanctions against Russia was implemented by the United States and the European Union back in March as a response to Crimea’s reunification with Russia following a referendum.
On July 16, in an effort to put further economic and political pressure on Russia, Washington introduced so-called Sectoral Sanctions Identification List that specifically targeted defense, energy and banking sectors of the Russian economy.
On Monday, the European Union reached a preliminary agreement on a list of Russia’s presidential inner circle and entities to be subject to sanctions over their "role" in taking decisions on Crimea. The list is in addition to 87 people and 20 organizations already subject to EU sanctions.
Moscow has repeatedly said that these measures are counterproductive and called the sanctions “a road to nowhere.”
