U.S. sanction plan draws rebuke from Russian legislators

Europe also having doubts; Kremlin could exploit divide.

MOSCOW — Russian legislators called on Wednesday for “painful” measures against the United States in response to plans for new U.S. sanctions, while the Kremlin focused more on the damage to relations between Washington and Moscow.

Apart from demanding a tough response, many in Russia declared dead any hope for improved relations with Washington under the Trump administration, and there were suggestions that European pique over the proposed measures created an opening for an anti-U.S. alliance.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, noted that the proposed U.S. law was still a draft. The House and the Senate must reconcile their versions before submitting it for President Donald Trump’s signature.

Any substantial response by Putin would require more study, Peskov said. Using one of Trump’s favorite adjectives in describing the law, he said, “In the meantime, it can be said that the news is quite sad with regard to Russia-U.S. relations and prospects for their development.” He added that it was “no less depressing with regard to the international law and international commercial relations.”

Similar sentiments emerged from several European capitals. In Paris, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the new sanctions, targeting Iran and North Korea as well as Russia, appeared to contradict international law because of their global reach.

There is concern in Europe that the U.S. sanctions could ripple through the energy market because they target companies that contribute to the development, maintenance or modernization of the pipelines exporting Russian energy.

That would most likely affect a hotly debated natural-gas pipeline project linking Russia with Germany, called Nord Stream 2, which is owned by the Russian state oil giant, Gazprom, but in which European firms hold financial stakes.

Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign relations committee in the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Legislature, said Moscow must respond even if it waits for the final law.

The reaction should be “painful for the Americans,” he wrote on Facebook. He also suggested a temporary alliance with Europe.

Sergei Ryabkov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, said the new sanctions would bury any prospect of improving relations, calling the measures “beyond common sense.”

“The authors and sponsors of this bill are making a very serious step toward destruction of prospects for normalizing relations with Russia and do not conceal that that’s their target,” Ryabkov said, according to the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass.

Despite that, he added, Moscow remained ready to cooperate on shared concerns, including fighting terrorism.

Last December, former President Barack Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and the closing of two Russian diplomatic estates near Washington and New York. Putin, anticipating better relations under a Trump administration, did not respond at the time. Many say they believe the Russian leader’s most likely first step will mirror those actions, and Moscow has been threatening to take such measures for weeks.