New congressional sanctions tie Trump’s hands on cooperation with Russia
The House passed legislation today that could impact US-Russia cooperation on Syria and curb Russian arms sales to the Middle East.
WASHINGTON — New sanctions legislation overwhelmingly passed by the House today would constrain President Donald Trump’s ability to offer Russia sanctions relief for cooperation on Syria and other hotspots. But the bill is focused more on Russian actions in Ukraine and interference in the 2016 presidential election, former US government sanctions officials said, and less directly on Russian actions in Syria, where the two countries have increased cooperation in recent weeks on a cease-fire deal. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Calibri; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}
The White House said Tuesday that it was reviewing the legislation. "While the President supports tough sanctions on North Korea, Iran and Russia, the White House is reviewing the House legislation and awaits a final legislative package for the President’s desk," said White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.
“It is very significant,” Edward Fishman, a former State Department policy-planning office staffer and sanctions expert, told Al-Monitor. “The broadest thing that the bill does is that it locks in all of the existing sanctions on Russia from 2014 when Russia first invaded Crimea.”
“The two real issues that this bill highlights in terms of Russia’s behavior are Ukraine … and cyber,” Fishman, now with the Atlantic Council, said. “But Syria — this is not a bill to sanction Russia for its actions in Syria.”
