NEW YORK, February 4. /TASS/. Top aides to US President Joe Biden realize that Washington’s capabilities regarding the introduction of new unilateral sanctions against Russia have been mostly exhausted, an article in the electronic version of The New York Times published on Wednesday said.
It stated that earlier, the new US administration, for instance, criticized the events in Russia and Myanmar. "And, in both cases, Mr. Biden has hinted that sanctions, a favorite, if now wildly overused, tool of American power, will soon follow," the article noted.
At the same time, according to the newspaper, "there was recognition among Mr. Biden’s top aides that, in the words of one of them, that when it comes to the Kremlin, ‘We’re pretty sanctioned out.’"
The article stated: "In the very different cases of Myanmar and Russia, Mr. Biden is about to discover how years of sanctions fatigue — exacerbated in the Trump administration — and a decline in American influence will make delivering on the promise much harder than when he served as vice president."
It noted that "American sanctions have proved less fearsome in recent years." The article emphasized that the US repeatedly introduced sanctions against Russia, China, Iran yet couldn’t force them to bend to Washington’s will.
The article quoted the opinion of former ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Ivo H. Daalder. According to him, the US has "fallen into this trap that sanctions are the easy answer to every problem." "They demonstrate that you care, and they impose some price, though usually not sufficient to change behavior,’’ he noted. One has "to beware that presidents often reach for them because doing everything else seems too costly," he added.
The newspaper indicated that in preparing possible new anti-Russian restrictions the Biden team intends to "work hard to coordinate pressure with allies."
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that the United States always comes up with various excuses for imposing anti-Russian sanctions, and it does not need any specific reasons to do so. She also emphasized that the sanctions being taken against Russia must be retaliated against, but Russia will do this not aggressively, but in a well-considered way. According to her, such an approach "is always more useful and effective." The spokeswoman added that the response would be public and well-reasoned.