Sanctions

Russian officials and lawmakers sharply criticised the new United States legislation, envisioning new sanctions against Moscow and making it more difficult for US President Donald Trump, to ease or lift punitive measures.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said voting in the House of Representatives is a “step forward towards destroying prospects for normalising relations between Washington and Moscow”.

Similarly, Russian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov said.

“This is an attempt to put Donald Trump in a difficult situation, to prevent his intentions to normalise relations with Russia, to neutralise agreements reached by Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hamburg”, Pushkov said.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the news of sanctions is “very bad from the point of view of Russian-American relations and their development prospects”.

Even the European Union has expressed concern, saying it is willing to take quick action if new US legislation undermines EU energy security.

Sanctions can affect joint energy projects Russia- The EU and in this context enters Nordic Stream 2 ʹ a pipeline that would carry Russian gas through the Baltic Sea to Europe.

New sanctions aim to punish Russia for annexing the Crime in 2014 and for its alleged intervention in the US presidential election in 2016.

They should also be approved in the Senate and signed by President Trump.

The new sanctions law strikes both Iran and North Korea. / REL/