Fresh US sanctions against Russia soon

Action taken in response to the assassination bid of a former Russian spy and his daughter

The Trump administration said on Wednesday that it would soon impose new sanctions against Russia in response to the attempted assassination in March of a former Russian spy living in England and his daughter.

Under the terms of the sanctions, any attempt by a US company to obtain an export licence to sell anything with a potential national security purpose — gas turbine engines, electronics, integrated circuits and testing and calibration equipment — will be automatically denied. Exporters can attempt to prove that the goods will be used for legitimate purposes, but that is a tough hurdle to clear.

An administration official described the list of affected items as “enormously elaborate,” but outside experts said the actual amount of exports involved is fairly small because the Obama administration already banned exports to Russia that could have military purposes.

Tougher measures are called for in the legislation, however, if Russia fails to prove that it is no longer using chemical weapons.

Rouble plunges

Russian authorities played down the importance of new US sanctions, saying they have tools to maintain financial stability.

The rouble plummeted to its weakest since August 2016, at 66.73 versus the dollar after the sanctions were announced, shedding 5 percent of its value compared with levels of late last week.

As of 1437 GMT, the rouble hovered 66.11 against the greenback, down 0.9 per cent on the day.

The rouble is stabilising as the market realises that the new US sanctions proposed by the White House are not as painful as the penalties proposed earlier by U.S. senators, analysts at Alfa Bank said in a note.