US steps up pressure on Russia Moscow vows response without damaging its own interests

WASHINGTON — US lawmakers have pushed for more aggressive steps to counteract the Russian “menace”, despite the government insisting current sanctions were having an effect and vowing to impose more economic pain if Moscow does not change its behavior.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he would like better ties with Moscow, but although he met Russian President Vladimir Putin last month in Helsinki, relations between the two countries have been further strained.

Earlier on Tuesday, the US Treasury Department announced punishments on several Russia-related individuals and entities over their involvement in actions against the US sanctions.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in a statement later that the move reflects a “hardheaded, narrow-minded and aggressive approach by the US”.

He added that Russia will respond without hurting its own interests and continue “calm and methodical work on a constructive agenda”.

On Wednesday, the Kremlin said it needed to understand if there was political will in Washington to cooperate with Russia as it prepared for a meeting between US National Security Adviser John Bolton and his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev.

They are due to meet in Geneva for talks on Thursday in the first high-level meeting since the Russian and US presidents held talks in Helsinki in July.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had met his Security Council on Wednesday to discuss problems in US-Russia relations ahead of the meeting between Bolton and Patrushev.

Senior officials from the US State Department and Treasury Department told two Senate hearings on Tuesday that since January 2017, 217 Russian business people, officials and private and staterun companies, including 14 banks and 20 energy firms, have been sanctioned. In addition, they recalled that the administration had expelled 60 Russian spies and closed Russia’s consulates in San Francisco and Seattle.

In a hearing on Tuesday, Marshall Billingslea, the US Treasury Department’s top terrorist financing official, acknowledged that the threat from Russia was “significant and continuing” but told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that without the sanctions “their behavior would be even further off the charts”.

Billingslea added that considering the size of the Russian economy and its deep integration into the global economy and financial system, US “sanctions are not and cannot be the only tool on which we rely”.

Russia and the US have been waging sanctions against each other as bilateral relations continue to worsen over recent years.

Contradictions also come up among US citizens though the relations between the two governments have been strained.

A recent Gallop poll showed that 58 percent US citizens preferred better relations with Russia, while the hard-liners, who believe in strong diplomatic and economic steps, accounted for 36 percent.

Trump has been widely attacked after the Helsinki meeting, due to his reconciliatory remarks that many saw as a sign of siding with Moscow over the alleged meddling in the 2016 US elections, claims Moscow denies.

Trump indicated on Monday that he would consider lifting US sanctions on Russia if Moscow took some actions in areas such as Syria or Ukraine.