On Monday, November 17, Russia conveyed its “negative” view of the United States’ ongoing approval of a bill to sanction countries that negotiate with Moscow, an initiative supported by President Donald Trump.
“We will be attentive to the development of this bill and its details. Of course, we see it as something negative,” stated the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov, in the daily telephone press conference, according to Agerpres.
On Sunday, President Trump warned that there would be “severe sanctions” for “any country” doing business with Russia, and possibly Iran as well, supporting an initiative in the US Congress intended to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut are promoting an initiative to impose tariffs on countries that import energy from Russia and secondary sanctions on foreign companies that assist in energy production in Russia.
The new sanctions are expected to be implemented following those announced by the Treasury Department in August against two major Russian oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, in response to Russia’s “lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine.”
The Treasury Department then stated that these are intended to “reduce the Kremlin’s capacity” and defended Washington’s desire to find a “peaceful solution to the war.”