WASHINGTON, February 21. /TASS/. The US administration believes that its recent law on sanctions helped to thwart Moscow’s deals with various partners worth more than $3 billion in total, US Department of State Spokesperson Heather Nauert has told reporters.
"We are pleased, however, that some countries have stopped the purchase of certain Russian materials and supplies. We believe somewhere north of $3 billion - we’ve been able to stop those transactions," she said, commenting on Washington’s implementation of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), adopted last summer.
She said that all US diplomatic missions abroad were tasked with talking governments in their respective countries out of business contacts with Russia.
"We have sent out ALDAC cables to all of our posts around the world, where those posts have been instructed to speak with their host governments about the new CAATSA law. In explaining to those countries, here’s what you could face if companies, if individuals are involved in these sorts of activities that meet a certain threshold that would contribute positively to Russia’s defense and intelligence and other sectors that are similar to those," Nauert said.
"I know you all want to see results overnight. We don’t have sanctionable activity just yet, but we are working every day to try to determine if there is something that is taking place. If there is something taking place, we will sanction those countries, those individuals, and those entities," she added.