THE U.S. on Thursday said it will impose tough new sanctions on Russia after determining that Moscow used a deadly military-grade nerve agent to kill a former Russian double agent and his daughter in the U.K. Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy, and his daughter Yulia Skripal were hospitalized and treated for a nerve agent attack in March. While Yulia was discharged from a British hospital in April, her father recovered and left the hospital in May. The State Department said in a statement that the sanctions were in response to the use of a “Novichok” nerve agent in an attempt to assassinate the U.K. citizen and his daughter March 4. Russia has rejected allegations levelled by the U.K. that it was behind the deadly nerve-agent attack in the English city of Salisbury. The U.S., on Monday, determined that the Russian Government “has used chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law or has used lethal chemical or biological weapons against its own nationals,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. The statement said that following a 15-day Congressional notification period, these sanctions will take effect around Aug. 22. The State Department notified Congress on Wednesday of the first of two potential tranches of sanctions required under the 1991 law. Unless Russia takes certain steps, a second set of penalties — more stringent than this first round — must follow, according to the law. The first set of sanctions targets certain items the U.S. exports to Russia that could have military uses — so-called dual use technologies. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that the U.S. decision to impose new sanctions on Russia is an unfriendly move and inconsistent with the constructive atmosphere created after the recent Putin-Trump meeting. (SD-Agencies) |