IMAGE: REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque
On August 3, the United States imposed a new round sanctions on Russia under a pretext of punishing it for the alleged poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal in the UK in 2018.
The US will oppose “the extension of any loan or financial or technical assistance to Russia” by financial institutions and put limits on US banks from purchasing Russian sovereign debt, US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.
Ortagus added that Washington will also limit the export of goods and technology to Russia that could be used in the country’s alleged chemical and biological arms programmes. She noted that the measures could prevent Russia from accessing “billions of dollars of bilateral commercial activity with the United States”.
The sanctions will come into effect following a 15-day congressional notification period – around August 15.
The Russian Foreign MInistry responded to this decision by describing the incident used as a pretext for sanctions as “staged” and the “blatant provocation”.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova’s comment on the latest anti-Russia steps by the United States (source):
The United States continues to use last year’s staged poisoning of the former British agent and his daughter in the UK to aggravate relations with Russia. This blatant provocation, whose participants have been protected from exposure, again serves as the pretext to impose sanctions on Russia under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 and a special executive order recently signed by the White House.
It should be noted that, in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, Russia eliminated its stockpiles a long time ago (international inspectors had the chance to verify this on more than one occasion), while the United States has such an arsenal today and is in no hurry to part with it.
To be sure, the newly announced sanctions mostly duplicate the anti-Russian measures introduced in previous years. The US authorities have long since limited the ability of their banks to issue loans to Russia and are keeping Russia from working with international financial development institutions and have blocked the sale of many technologies and goods. There’s nothing new here.
In recent years, the architects of the sanctions pressure on Russia have tried many things, but failed. The policy of seeking to force Russia to change its foreign and domestic policy and to abandon its own interests in deference to the US claim to global domination, has failed. The fact that the current sanctions will be the 72nd in a series that goes back to 2011 clearly shows the failure of all previous attempts at exerting pressure and the futility of the new ones. Every time, Washington only shows its weakness.
As we have already noted, the authors of the many sanctions lists are now mostly counting on the propaganda effect and constant hyping of sanctions in the media.
Russia will continue to make progress, to improve its economy and defence capability, and to expand its international influence despite the sanctions blackmail.
Putin has taken the wasteland of Russia and made it a shitthole that it will never climb out of in our lifetime enjoy your dicktater dumbazzez.
“Awe is something one must achieve” Ђорђе Балашевић
he took them from bread lines to 500 billion in the piggy bank! Used that to counter sanctions! Re-built the Russian Military! Builds pipelines through Turkey, had the Saudi royal family kiss his hand in Moscow! Took back Eastern Ukraine and Crimea! Winning in Syria, made new allies out of Turkey! Has been welcomed into Iraq and Syria as liberators! Are building Nord stream 2 and pipelines to Japan and China and have NO foreign debt! Thats called winning sunshine! Maybe u should focus on your shithole country Canada! You have a weak liberal gender pronoun pushing faggot for PM and u are now forcing parents to allow their children to choose their own gender! You have lost your war already! you are a bitch!