WASHINGTON, December 8. /TASS/. The new US administration will try to increase effectiveness of sanctions against Russia in a bid to iron out some issues, which Washington used for justifying restrictions, Former US Ambassador to Russia Thomas Pickering said.

Speaking at an online seminar held by the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, Pickering predicted that probably the Biden administration would seek to do more to unite allies for the sake of stepping up sanctions.

Another issue is whether the Biden administration’s efforts would be a success, Pickering said, noting that this was a challenging task.

Pickering, who headed the US Embassy in Moscow in 1993-1996, admitted that the current sanctions against Russia were not working. "Let me begin with a very quick conclusion. In general, sanctions ain't work with Russia. It’s a huge country, great resilience, lots of resources."

According to him, Russia has "a weak economy" compared with other leading industrially developed states, but even this factor has not made sanctions policy against Moscow successful.