Page 8 - RUSRptAug18

2.14 Politics - misc
Washington's sanctions against Moscow will remain in place and unchanged for now, US President Donald Trump said during a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in the White House on July 30. "Sanctions against Russia will remain as is," he said. The United States repeatedly imposed sanctions against Russia. In particular, during the presidency of Trump, Russian diplomats were expelled from the country and the Consulates of the Russian Federation in San Francisco, California and Seattle, Washington, were closed. Currently, a group of senators in the US Congress is working on a new package of sanctions against Moscow, which is currently supported by legislators from both parties.
Prominent Republican US senators have called for more sanctions on Russia as US President Donald Trump continues to be under heavy criticism for siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the recent summit in Helsinki, Reuters reported on July 22. Some analysts suggested that domestic bi-partisan outrage over Trump siding with Putin on election meddling and other critical issues in Helsinki could backfire with more sanctions and a tougher stance on Russia in Washington. A bill potentially sanctioning Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany has already been introduced to the US Congress. While Trump has made an unconvincing attempt to retract and rephrase his statements made at the joint press-conference with Putin, he later added insult to injury by inviting the Russian leader to Washington in autumn 2018. "You need to work with Congress to come up with new sanctions because Putin’s not getting the message," Senator Lindsey Graham said on CBS’ Face the Nation. "We need new sanctions, heavy-handed sanctions, hanging over his head, and then meet with him," Lindsey said as cited by Reuters.
Sanctioned Russian aluminium major Rusal of billionaire and Kremlin
8 RUSSIA Country Report August 2018 www.intellinews.com