MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Washington's attempts to isolate Russia will fail as did the efforts to isolate Cuba, the head of the International Committee from Russia's lower house of parliament, Alexei Pushkov, said Saturday.
US President Barack Obama has previously said in relation to Cuba that engagement was a more powerful force than isolation.
"So Obama admitted that the isolation of Cuba had not worked out. The isolation of Russia is bound to fail too," Pushkov said on his Twitter account.
On April 6, the Russian official said in light of upcoming trips of Western countries' leaders to the Russian capital for May 9 celebrations of the victory over Nazi Germany Washington was afraid that the isolation of Moscow would not work.
Russian-US relations began to deteriorate significantly when the region of Crimea decided to secede from Ukraine and reunify with Russia through a referendum in March 2014, with Washington accusing Moscow of "annexing" the region.
The escalating crisis in Ukraine worsened the situation further, after Kiev forces launched a military operation against Ukraine's eastern regions in April 2014. Western nations accused Moscow of escalating the violence in the country.
Washington, alongside the European Union and a number of other countries, imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow targeting Russia's banking, energy and defense sectors, as well as a list of certain individuals.
Russia has repeatedly stressed it is not involved in the Ukrainian conflict and urged for a peaceful resolution of the crisis through reconciliation talks.
