Trump signs sanctions bill ‘for sake of national unity’

MOSCOW — With a new sanctions bill enacted on Wednesday, the United States has declared a full-scale trade war against Russia, killing hope for easing the tension in bilateral relations, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said.

“The hope of improving our relations with the new US administration has come to an end,” Medvedev said via the social network platform Facebook, commenting on the signing into law of a new US sanctions bill by President Donald Trump.

The Trump administration had demonstrated “complete impotence, in the most humiliating manner, transferring executive powers to Congress,” Medvedev said.

As the new sanctions make it difficult to remove the measures against Moscow that may last decades, Medvedev foresaw little room for improving bilateral ties.

“The relationship between Russia and the United States

The hope of improving our relations with the new US administration has come to an end.” Dmitry Medvedev, Russian prime minister

will be extremely tense, regardless of the composition of the Congress or the personality of the president,” he said.

The Russian prime minister indicated economic retaliation by saying that Russia will reduce its reliance on Western imports.

In a pre-emptive diplomatic move against the new sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the US to reduces its diplomatic staff in the country by 755 employees by Sept 1.

Calling it “significantly flawed”, Trump on Wednesday signed into law the bill that also imposes sanctions against