Kremlin slams new US sanctions against Russia

Russian Politics & Diplomacy August 14, 2018, 14:21

On August 2, a group of US senators introduced a bill toughening sanctions against Russia

MOSCOW, August 14. /TASS/. New US sanctions against Russia do not promise anything good for bilateral relations, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

When asked, when Moscow will prepare measures in response to Washington’s draft law on new sanctions against Russia, Peskov noted that the relevant bill "has not been adopted yet."

"We do not react to the draft laws, but we are monitoring them very closely. Our position is well known, it does not change with respect to these restrictive measures. It does not promise anything good for bilateral relations," the official stressed.

On August 2, 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.

Besides that, from August 22, the US administration plans to impose sanctions against Russia over its alleged involvement in the March 4 poisoning of former Colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the British city of Salisbury. Russia repeatedly refuted any statements of its involvement in the Skripals incident.

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