According to a statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday, Lavrov voiced concern over the new anti-Moscow measure adopted by the White House in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

“Sergei Lavrov said that after the US president [Barack Obama] signed the Ukraine Freedom Act that threatens new sanctions against Russia, normal joint activities between [the two] countries would be undermined for a long time,” the Russian Foreign Ministry quoted him as saying.
On Thursday, Obama signed a law giving him the power to slap more sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, saying he could use the authorities included in the measure “if circumstances warranted.”

In recent months, the US and its Western allies have imposed sanctions on Russia, including on its financial and energy sectors, and put a number of Russian nationals close to President Vladimir Putin on a sanctions list.

In a tit-for-tat measure, Moscow also imposed year-long food bans on the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway in August. The move is estimated to cost European agricultural industries millions of dollars.