Obama extended sanctions against Russia in advance

US President Barack Obama, seven days before the end of his term, published an extraordinary notice to extend sanctions against Russia in connection with the situation in Ukraine.

The document addressed to Congress, published on January 13 on the White House website, extends the sanctions until March 6, 2018. Without notice, the sanctions decree would have expired in March 2017. Prior to that, Obama had renewed sanctions every year a few days before they expired in March.

It was previously noted that President-elect Donald Trump, whose inauguration will take place on January 20, does not need to renew sanctions again to lift the sanctions.

Trump himself, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, said that sanctions against Russia would be maintained for some period of time. At the same time, he hinted that the restrictions imposed due to cyber attacks could be lifted if Moscow contributes to the fight against terrorism and other tasks of Washington.

• The United States began to impose sanctions against Russia during the annexation of Crimea. The sanctions apply to both individuals who have been banned from entering the United States and companies. The American sanctions were supported by the European Union.
• Russia, in response to the sanctions, introduced a food embargo since August 2014, banning the import of certain types of products from the US, the EU and a number of other countries.