Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Wednesday, February 9, that he sees the presence of a cross-party consensus in the United States regarding anti-Russian sanctions. According to him, at the moment there are disputes between American sanators and congressmen about the most painful sanctions that should be applied to Moscow.
“Today it is difficult to say what the Democrats and Republicans will come to. The feeling is that sanctions will be developed <...> The only question is when they will be introduced,” the diplomat said during a conversation with reporters.
At the same time, Antonov noted that he sees the existence of an inter-party consensus, and the disputes are only about how to make Russia more painful.
Earlier, on January 12, a group of Democratic senators in the United States presented a bill providing for the introduction of new sanctions against Russia in case the situation around Ukraine worsens. Senators promised to ban transactions with the primary and secondary state debt of the Russian Federation.
On January 25, the United States announced that American financial sanctions against the Russian Federation in the event of an “invasion of Ukraine” would be tougher than in 2014, when the ruble fell by 50%. In addition, the White House warned about the preparation against Russia of restrictions on the supply of complex technologies in addition to financial restrictions.
On January 31, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed that the US government had developed sanctions lists in case Russia “invaded” Ukraine. As specified in the US National Security Council (NSC), the new US sanctions will be aimed at weakening the industrial potential of the Russian Federation.
On February 5, Antonov said that Russia expects the United States to impose new sanctions. According to him, all US senators agree that new restrictions should be introduced against the Russian Federation. However, so far the US Congress has not come to a consensus on their scope and timing.
On February 8, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin stressed that adverse consequences for the West in the event of tough anti-Russian sanctions are inevitable. In turn, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted on February 9 that some capitals speak of the need to adopt sanctions immediately, while others say that there should be no sanctions without ephemeral aggression against Ukraine.
In the United States and a number of European countries, they have recently expressed concern about the alleged increase in Russia’s “aggressive actions” against Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly rejected such accusations, emphasizing that it does not threaten anyone. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted, Russia is not going to start a war with Ukraine, and Western countries and the United States are “hysterically” developing the topic of the Russian threat instead of forcing Ukraine to comply with the Minsk agreements.
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