New sanctions on state companies for Moscow"s meddling in western democracies Nikolai Petruchev: New US sanctions does not mean relations will stop with Washington Washington: The United States sanctioned 24 Russian people, including oligarchs and government officials, and 14 groups on Friday over what it called a range of malign activities by Moscow to subvert Western democracies, the Treasury Department said. “The Russian government engages in a range of malign activity around the globe, including continuing to occupy Crimea and instigate violence in eastern Ukraine, supplying the Assad regime with material and weaponry as they bomb their own civilians, attempting to subvert Western democracies, and malicious cyber activities,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in a statement Moscow responded quickly to the American treasury announcement, by saying that Russian state companies included on a new list of US sanctions will receive additional government support, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov was cited by the Interfax news agency. The United States imposed new sanctions against Russian businessmen, companies and government officials on Friday in one of Washington’s most aggressive moves to punish Moscow for a range of activities, including alleged meddling in the 2016 US election. Manturov said Russian companies that refused to cooperate with firms included on the sanctions list would be punished, Interfax reported. This was followed by assurances from Moscow that contacts with the US will continue despite the sanctions. Russia"s security council secretary Nikolai Petruchev said that new US sanctions does not mean relations will stop with Washington.