Russian sanctions: Trump’s strange silence
I thought I was dreaming, said Sean O’grady in The Independent: I turned on the radio and heard, quite distinctly, that the US was imposing fresh sanctions on Russia over the Skripal affair. Had a new president replaced Donald Trump in the White House? No: a forgotten piece of legislation had “suddenly sprung into life”. Passed in 1991, it stipulates that any country found to have used chemical weapons must automatically face sanctions – and that is what has happened over the attempted assassination of the Skripals in Salisbury. Trump had no say in the matter, and has so far remained uncharacteristically silent. The question is, will he “betray his British allies once again”, by finding a way to let Russia off the hook?
Bizarrely, these sanctions mean that the US is taking a stronger stand than Britain over the Novichok incident, said The Daily Telegraph. The first tranche of measures affects products with relevant to national security, such as aeroplane equipment; the second, to kick in after 90 days unless Russia shows that it has mended its ways, could downgrade diplomatic relations and cut off nearly all imports and exports. But Britain has to follow the EU’S line on sanctions, and there’s little scope for extending those that are already in place; besides which, some EU countries – particularly those dependent on Russian gas – “lack the stomach” for a sharp response. Nevertheless, said the Financial Times, these measures amount to a “tightening vice” on Russia’s economy – and there may be more to come, with the US Senate preparing to vote on a bill to punish the Kremlin’s election interference. It’s a worrying time for President Putin, whose popularity at home has already been badly dented by planned rises in the state pension age and VAT. Ordinary Russians are tired of his insistence that they should put patriotism before their own wallets, and – having “revelled in friendship” with overseas fans during the World Cup – want better relations with the US and EU.
It’s true that sanctions have hurt Russia, said The New York Times. When the latest measures were announced, its currency and stock markets fell. But they’ve had little success in altering its behaviour: instead, Putin has proved ever more defiant. America’s “pushmi-pullyu” attitude, with Trump promising warmer relations while senior officials and Congress growl about new chastisements, allows Putin to argue that, rather than reflecting a passion for international law, sanctions are simply weapons to be deployed cynically in “a vicious game of thrones”. It’s time for Trump to voice support for these measures: an administration divided against itself “makes a mockery” of them.