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Eastern Europe
June 16, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 16
US Senate approves tougher Russia sanctions
bne IntelliNews
The US Senate on June 14 overwhelmingly backed deeper sanctions against Russia, cementing into law measures imposed in 2014 as well as a wid- ening of them to target Moscow’s controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe, despite a call by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for “flex- ibility” that would allow President Donald Trump to more easily adapt US policy towards Russia.
Lawmakers voted 97-2 to attach the sanctions language to a bill sanctioning Iran over its ballistic missile programme and sponsorship of terrorism. “Democrats and Republicans are joining together to warn the president he cannot lift sanctions without our approval,” media reports quoted Sen- ate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as saying.
Democrats had threatened to block the Iran sanc- tions bill unless lawmakers added an amendment to punish Russia for its actions in Ukraine since 2014, as well as in Syria. But the tougher line on Russia was mainly because of its alleged cyber hacking aimed at influencing the outcome of the US elections last November.
The new legislation will also make it harder for the White House to unilaterally slacken or lift any Russia sanctions, after months of speculation that Trump might try to relax the economic pressure on Russia in return for its cooperation in other areas.
Schumer said earlier that the bill would send a “powerful signal to President Trump and the White House that the concern that he might
The US Senate overwhelmingly backed deeper sanctions against Russia, cementing into law measures imposed in 2014.
weaken or lift sanctions against [Russian Presi- dent Vladimir] Putin is a bipartisan concern, one that the Senate is not going to ignore”.
The amendments turn into law the existing sanc- tions imposed on Russia three years ago for its annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Moscow rebels in East Ukraine. The measures will also target anyone supplying weapons to Syrian Presi- dent Bashar al-Assad, as well as Russians ac- cused of human rights abuses. Russian mining, metals, shipping, and railways companies will also be affected, going beyond the energy and financial firms previously targeted.
The sanctions also target Nord Stream 2, a gas pipeline that will double the capacity of Gazprom’s existing Nord Stream pipiline, which can trans- port about 55bn cubic metres a year under the Baltic Sea into Germany. The new US measures could affect European energy companies, includ- ing Shell, Engie and OMV, which are financing the pipeline.
Officials in Moscow said earlier that the adoption of the amendments would draw retaliatory measures.
The measures also drew a sharp response from Germany and Austria, whose governments and companies are heavily involved in Nord Stream 2. In a joint statement, signed by German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern, the two countries said the amend- ment heralded a “new and very negative quality