WASHINGTON, August 24. /TASS/. The United States’ sanctions on Russia over the Skripal case are expected to come into effect on August 27, a State Department spokesperson told TASS on Thursday.

"On August 6, the United States has determined, for purposes of implementing the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (CBW Act), that the Government of the Russian Federation has used chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law or has used lethal chemical or biological weapons against its own nationals," the spokesperson said. "On August 8, we notified Congress our intent to impose several sanctions on Russia required by the CBW Act - including most prominently, imposing a presumption of denial for Russian access to any US-origin national security-sensitive goods and technologies."

"The notification period prescribed by the CBW Act elapsed on August 22. We have submitted the Federal Register Notice enacting the sanctions and expect that it will be published on August 27," the State Department spokesperson added.

The Federal Register is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. The sanctions will come into effect once the corresponding notice is published in it.

US sanctions

On August 22, Washington hit Russia with more sanctions over its alleged involvement in the March 4 poisoning of former Russian military intelligence Colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the British city of Salisbury. The Department of State argues that Russia is in breach of the 1991 Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act.

The new restrictions include a total ban on the supply of electronic devices and other dual-use products to Russia. More tough measures may be taken in November. The US authorities said however that Russia may escape the harsher sanctions if it provides credible guarantees not to use chemical and biological weapons and allows the United Nations and other international organizations to carry out inspections on the country’s soil.

Skripals case

According to London, former Russian military intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergei Skripal, 66, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain and later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his daughter Yulia, 33, 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 neither the Soviet Union nor Russia ever had any program aimed at developing such a substance.