Trump admin finishes list of off-limits Russian officials

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration gave Congress on Thursday a list of Russian officials who may soon become off-limits to anyone who wants to avoid U.S. sanctions, as criticism mounted over the administration’s tardy execution of new penalties on Moscow.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former NATO chief and adviser to Ukraine’s leader, said Russian President Vladimir Putin “must be laughing right now” at how successfully he’s undermined Western democracy. He said the lack of answers from the administration would be seen as a sign of weakness that Putin would exploit.

“He’s achieved much more than he could have ever dreamed of when it comes to undermining the credibility of Western democratic institutions,” Rasmussen said in an Associated Press interview. “When he’s watching the ongoing discussion here in Washington, I think it’s unbelievable for him that he could achieve that much for a very modest investment in whatever he might have invested in interference in the election or whatever.”

The former prime minister of Denmark, Rasmussen joined a growing chorus of Russia critics expressing exasperation that an Oct. 1 deadline came and went without new penalties to punish Russia for interfering in the U.S. election. A law Trump signed in August requires the administration to produce a list of individuals linked to Russia’s defense and intelligence agencies. Anyone who does business with those individuals could then be hit themselves with U.S. sanctions.

With pressure building, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson approved the belated list and authorized its release, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. Tillerson’s deputy spoke Thursday to Republican Sen. Bob Corker, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman and among those seeking an explanation for the delay. The State Department was also sending others in Congress the list of individuals, along with guidance about how businesses and foreign countries can avoid running afoul of the sanctions, officials said.