MOSCOW, May 24. /TASS/. US sanctions on the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service won’t prevent its communication with US intelligence services, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on Wednesday.

"Every now and then they impose sanctions on our organizations. <…> This is absolutely arbitrary, the result of some internal decisions, some of their own conclusions. It is not a problem for us at all. What we need to communicate to them, we can communicate at any time through the channels that are functioning. I don't think this will hinder any contacts," he said.

Ryabkov noted that "sanctions are purely political, meant to send a certain message and sway the international community, to sway our domestic audience to some extent."

"There is nothing here that adds any element to the overall picture of a deeply rooted anti-Russian policy," he said.

On May 19, the US Treasury Department added Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, also known as the SVR, to its sanctions list. The service’s director, Sergey Naryshkin, was put on the US sanctions list in 2014 when he was the chairman of the State Duma.