Russia's proposed ‘counter-sanctions’ would spare at least 90 drugs imported from the U.S., but more than 920 could be banned

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced on Tuesday that new draft legislation to arm the government with more “counter-sanctions” against the United States would not affect 90 of the 1,019 American pharmaceutical products currently imported from the U.S., as these 90 drugs are not manufactured domestically and aren’t available in other countries.

“Let’s try to calm the public,” Volodin said on the cable news television station Rossiya 24, explaining that lawmakers would meet with “the expert community and business groups affected by this law,” before voting on a second reading of the legislation.

The draft law in question proposes the following sanctions:

• Volodin and the leaders of every political party with seats in the parliament introduced a draft bill on April 13 that would authorize the government to impose several new sanctions on the United States and “other hostile states.” The legislation was drafted immediately after the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned dozens of Russian “oligarchs” and businesses, causing billions of dollars in stock market losses.