MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/. The possible toughening of Washington’s sanctions on Moscow stems from the domestic situation in the United States, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Friday.

"As for the much talked about new round of sanctions… we understand that this process, which continues in the United States, is not based on facts but stems from the domestic political situation," the Russian diplomat stressed.

Zakharova pointed out that it was "a general trend" but Russia would comment on Washington’s specific steps based on the situation.

On Thursday, a group of US senators introduced a bill toughening sanctions against Russia. The senators backing the bill, including Democrat Robert Menendez, Republican Cory Gardner, Democrat Ben Cardin, Republican John McCain, and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, claim that it is meant to be "a comprehensive legislation that will increase economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on" Moscow.

According to the senators, the bill, dubbed Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act of 2018, says that there should be "a prohibition on and sanctions with respect to transactions relating to new sovereign debt of the Russian Federation," sanctions "on transactions related to investment in energy projects supported by Russian state-owned or parastatal entities," "sectoral sanctions on any person in the Russian Federation that has the capacity or ability to support or facilitate malicious cyber activities," while "an Office of Cyberspace and the Digital Economy within the Department of State" should be established.