US SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law a legislation that levies new sanctions against Russia and restricts the President’s own ability to ease sanctions in place against Moscow, a White House official said.
The Bill is one of the first major pieces of legislation that was sent to Trump’s desk and it represents a rebuke to the President by giving Congress new veto power to block him from removing Russia sanctions, CNN reported.
Even before Trump signed the bill, the measure prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to retaliate against the US over the new sanctions, which Congress levied over Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election, as well as Russia’s annexation of Crimea and aggression in Syria.
In addition to the new US sanctions on Russia, former President Barack Obama seized two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland in December in response to the election meddling.
Russia responded by ordering the US to cut staff at its diplomatic mission by 755 employees, as well as seizing two US diplomatic properties.
The new sanctions Bill hits Russia’s energy and defence sectors, and also includes fresh sanctions against Iran and North Korea. The measure was signed into law after it was passed with overwhelming margins in both the House of Representatives and Senate.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Russian authorities on Wednesday took over a summer-house com- pound in Moscow leased by the US embassy, five days after the Kremlin ordered Washington to slash its diplomatic presence in Russia.
In retaliation for new US sanctions, President Vladimir Putin has ordered the United States to cut around 60 percent of its diplomatic staff in Russia by September 1, and said Moscow would seize a dacha country villa used by US embassy staff and a warehouse.
US employees cleared out the dacha on Tuesday and a journalist who visited the property on Wednesday saw a large metal padlock securing the front gate.
The one-storey building and courtyard, previously used by diplomatic staff at weekends and to host embassy parties, was empty and cleared of barbecue equipment and garden furniture.
Two policemen in a car in front of the main entrance said they had been instructed to guard the property and did not expect any visits from US or Russian officials.
“I don’t know when this situation will change,” one of the policemen said. Maria Olson, a spokeswoman for the US embassy, had no immediate comment when contacted. She was quoted by Russia’s Interfax news agency as saying the embassy had retrieved all its possessions from the villa, and from the warehouse.
Putin said on Sunday Russia had ordered the United States to cut 755 of its 1,200 diplomatic staff in its embassy and consular operations, though many of those let go will be Russian citizens, with the United States allowed to choose who leaves.