The United States continues to study the issue of possible restrictions against Russia in connection with the crisis around Ukraine, none of the measures announced earlier by the administration are still not ruled out. This was announced on Thursday, January 20, by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
“We continue to consider a number of options, and none of the measures that were previously reported are still not ruled out,” Psaki said during a regular briefing.
Psaki also added that she had nothing to announce yet in terms of contacts with Russia at the highest level, and suggested that decisions on further steps would be made following a meeting scheduled for Friday between Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Earlier in the day, US Republican Party spokesman Jim Banks presented a new draft of sanctions against Russia. At present, the content of the bill itself, entitled “For the imposition of sanctions against the Russian Federation and for other purposes,” has not been officially published. It is only known that it was submitted for consideration on January 19 and sent to the committee on foreign affairs, as well as to the committees on the judiciary and finance.
According to the data Washington Post, the bill received a different name – “Act on holding Putin accountable.” It includes sanctions against a number of Russian officials, security officials, journalists and businessmen.
In addition, according to the publication, the bill provides for the introduction of measures against Nord Stream 2, as well as the termination of funding for dialogues on cybersecurity and strategic stability, until Russia supposedly stops attacks on their departments and until Crimea belongs to the Russian Federation.
Also on that day, an Izvestia source familiar with the course of contacts said that real negotiations on security guarantees would begin only after Moscow received an official written response from the United States and NATO to its proposals. The January 21 meeting between Sergey Lavrov and Anthony Blinken implies “only a discussion” of the issue of guarantees.
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