The United States is stooping to threats to impose secondary sanctions in order to force neutral states to curtail cooperation with Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing today, RIA Novosti reported.

"Driven by an obsessive desire to harm Russia as much as possible, the United States is increasingly stooping to using threats of secondary sanctions to force neutral states to curtail cooperation with our country, while calling it solidarity," Maria Zakharova said.

"This is not solidarity, this is blackmail and threats that break people, politicians and force them to accept a concept alien to them on such terms," she stressed.

Zakharova added that not all of Russia's partners are capable of resisting these threats.