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U.S. to Issue New Sanctions Against Russia Over Spy Poisoning U.S. to Issue New Sanctions Against Russia Over Spy Poisoning
(about 1 hour later)
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it would soon impose new sanctions on Russia to punish Moscow for violating American and international laws by attempting to assassinate a former Russian spy living in England using a nerve agent. WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it would soon impose new sanctions on Moscow over the attempted assassinations of a former Russian spy living in England, violating American and international laws.
The sanctions arise from a March 4 incident when Sergei V. Skripal, a former Russian spy, and his daughter were nearly poisoned to death with a rare and toxic nerve agent. British authorities soon accused Russia of being behind the attempt, a charge Moscow has fiercely denied. The sanctions arise from a March 4 episode in which Sergei V. Skripal, a former Russian spy, and his daughter were nearly poisoned to death with a rare and toxic nerve agent. British authorities accused Russia of being behind the attempt, a charge Moscow has fiercely denied.
In the wake of the poisoning, more than two dozen Western countries expelled more than 150 Russian diplomats, including 60 from the United States. The sanctions are part of a raft of anti-Russian efforts by the United States despite President Trump’s own efforts to forge warmer ties through direct talks with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. The sanctions could potentially halt nearly half of the $7 billion in exports the United States sends to Russia every year, according to a senior Trump administration official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.
Russia responded with a similar number of diplomatic expulsions and ordered the closure of the American Consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city. The sanctions require that export licenses for anything with a potential national security purpose — engines, electronics, circuits and testing equipment — will be automatically denied. Exporters can attempt to prove that the goods will be used for legitimate purposes, but that is a tough hurdle to clear.
The new sanctions are part of a raft of anti-Russian efforts by the United States despite President Trump’s own efforts to forge warmer ties through direct talks with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. The new sanctions are expected to go into effect on Aug. 22. They have previously been used only twice — against Syria in 2013, for its chemical weapons attack on its own population, and this year against North Korea, for the alleged assassination of Kim Jong-un’s half brother with a banned nerve agent in Malaysia.
Mr. Trump met with Mr. Putin at a summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland, in July. At the time, Mr. Trump’s warm embrace of the Russian leader, as well as his apparent siding with Mr. Putin over assessments by American intelligence agencies that Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election, opened the White House to a firestorm of criticism. American officials said some exceptions will be allowed: for space equipment that the United States relies upon to send goods and people to the International Space Station, as well for commercial aircraft equipment involved in the safety of passengers.
Trade between the United States and Russia has been declining since 2013, as relations between the two countries have grown increasingly frosty. With other sanctions already imposed over the past year against Russia — on its military equipment vendors, officials engaged in human rights abuses and oligarchs with close ties to Mr. Putin — trade is likely to tumble even more.
After the Skripal poisoning, more than two dozen Western countries expelled more than 150 Russian diplomats, including 60 from the United States. Russia responded with a similar number of diplomatic expulsions and ordered the closure of the United States Consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city.
The sanctions arise out of the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991.
The act requires that sanctions be put in place within 60 days, but the government has missed that deadline every time to give officials more time for careful reviews, the official said.
The act also mandates further, tougher sanctions be imposed three months from now if Russia fails several tests, including a determination that Russia is no longer using chemical or biological weapons, that it provides reliable reassurances that it will not use them in the future, and that it allow international inspectors to ensure compliance — tests that Russia is unlikely to meet.
Mr. Trump met with Mr. Putin last month at a summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland. At the time, Mr. Trump’s warm embrace of the Russian leader, as well as his apparent siding with Mr. Putin over assessments by American intelligence agencies that Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election, opened the White House to a firestorm of criticism.