President Trump and U.S. lawmakers need to learn that the use of sanctions to punish Russian policies is “pointless,” according to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Lavrov delivered the rebuke to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by phone after canceling a high-level diplomatic summit in Moscow that had been scheduled for Friday. The Russians cancelled the meeting after the Treasury Department updated existing sanctions related to the Ukraine crisis to target Russian government officials and separatist fighters who were circumventing the punitive measures.