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New US sanctions prohibit US banks from lending non-ruble denominated funds to Russia

As part of the restrictions, the United States will oppose the extension of any loan or financial or technical assistance to Russia by international financial institutions

WASHINGTON, August 3. /TASS/. The second round of US sanctions against Moscow over the Skripal case will include a prohibition on US banks from lending non-ruble denominated funds to the Russian government, US Department of State spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement released on Friday.

"These sanctions will restrict Russia’s access to the multilateral development bank system, the US market for primary issuances of non-ruble denominated Russian sovereign debt, non-ruble denominated debt financing, and US-origin items that are strategically important to Russia’s chemical and biological weapons program," the statement said.

"These measures could curtail Russia’s access to billions of dollars of bilateral commercial activity with the United States," the diplomat noted.

As part of the restrictions, the United States will oppose the extension of any loan or financial or technical assistance to Russia by international financial institutions, such as the World Bank or International Monetary Fund. US banks will also be prohibited from "participating in the primary market for non-ruble denominated bonds issued by the Russian sovereign and lending non-ruble denominated funds to the Russian sovereign," the spokesperson said.

"Licenses for exports to Russia of dual-use chemical and biological items controlled by the Department of Commerce will be subject to a "presumption of denial" policy," the statement said.

On August 1, US President Donald Trump signed the Executive Order, which stipulates the procedure of sanctioning the country found to have breached the US Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991. The act was used as a legal justification for slapping the first round of sanctions on Russia over the Skripal case at the end of August in 2018.

According to the British side, former Russian military intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergei Skripal, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for London and later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his daughter Yulia suffered the effects of an alleged nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury on March 4. Claiming that the substance used in the attack had been a Novichok-class nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, London rushed to accuse Russia of being involved in the incident. Moscow rejected all of the United Kingdom’s accusations, saying that a program aimed at developing such a substance had existed neither in the Soviet Union nor in Russia.

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