Translated material
Trump delivers a "double blow"
Washington will again announce sanctions against Russia, which can hurt not only oligarchs and officials, but all Russians
So far, Congress is only going to adopt his “hellish law”, President Trump signed an executive decree on the imposition of sanctions against foreign states, companies and individuals guilty of interfering with the American elections. It is not only about Russia, sanctions will be adopted in relation to any foreign state that Washington will consider guilty.
They creaked again
And in November, the Trump administration is going to tighten sanctions against Russia for “violation of international legislation in the field of chemical and biological weapons,” the assistant to US Secretary of State Manisha Singh said at a hearing in Congress. We are talking about the attempt on the lives of Russian citizens: the former special agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia using the nerve substance “Novice”, committed on March 4 in the UK. Moscow denies the charge that the allies of Great Britain unanimously supported.
The sanctions by the Trump administration were introduced on the basis of the American law "On the destruction of chemical and biological weapons and the fight against its spread" adopted in 1991. The White House announced about them on August 8, the first round came into force on August 22. The export of American defense products, as well as double -purpose goods, which can also be used for national security, including electronics, lasers and some oil and gas production technologies, was prohibited to Russia. The first round of sanctions blocked exports to Russia for hundreds of millions of dollars. The State Department made exceptions for space cooperation and humanitarian food assistance.
The second round will cost Russia “tens of billions of dollars” already, an assistant to the Secretary of State promised lawmakers.
According to Manishi Singh, sanctions will be inevitably imposed if only Russia does not agree to international inspection inspections at its facilities and does not give “convincing reliable assurances” that in the future prohibited substances will not be applied to their own citizens. So far there have been no such steps, it means that the sanctions are inevitable. The duration of the introduction is 90 days.
The second round includes a reduction in the level of diplomatic relations, a possible ban on flights in the USA Aeroflot, almost complete cessation of trade, bank restrictions, etc. Sanctions can be imposed on the North Stream 2 main gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. Moreover, the US Energy Minister Rick Perry (in the past - the Governor of Texas and the chair of the chair in the White House) announced this in Moscow after negotiations with the Russian colleague Alexander Novak.
Perry also met with a counterpart from Saudi Arabia. The purpose of the negotiations is to agree on the price of oil, which, as they write in Washington, can sharply jump as a result of American sanctions against Iran and the political crisis in Venezuela. Despite the fact that the ministers reached “progress” in Moscow, at a press conference, Perry confirmed that energy sanctions against Russia are possible and they may include “Northern Stream 2”, against the construction of which, in addition to the United States, is a number of Eastern European countries-in particular, Poland and the Baltic countries.
Messages from Washington about the "double blow" of the Trump administration led to a fall in the exchange rate of the ruble. It is curious that reports of news agencies about the inevitability of the second, “hard” round of American sanctions in connection with poisoning in Salisbury coincided with the display of the RT channel RT of the Two Russians - “Petrov and Boshirov” (I put quotation marks to further clarification of circumstances) accused of committing a prohibited substance on the territory of the United Kingdom. The ruble believed the threats from Washington more than excuses for two “tourists from Russia”.
Trump Decree: "Devil in Details"
Donald Trump is extremely pleased with his administration by decree on sanctions for interfering in the elections and, as it was possible, calls him historical. “Having signed this decree, I added another line to the history of the introduction of the most stringent measures to protect our electoral system, which have ever been adopted by US presidents,” the 45th president said in a statement. The decree was signed on Wednesday September 12 - 55 days before the November intermediate elections to Congress.
First - about political dividends. Trump again intercepted the initiative from Congress, in the bowels of which several bills providing for sanctions against Russia are being prepared at once: for interference in the presidential election, for actions in Syria and Ukraine. According to the presidential adviser to National Security, John Bolton, who was the first to submit to reporters a decree: “We felt how important it is to demonstrate that our president took responsibility in this matter, which deeply excites him because the honesty of our elections and our constitutional process is a priority for the president.”
Trump's statements on the topic of Russian interference in the elections have always been, to put it mildly, contradictory. In March, the White House imposed sanctions against 19 citizens and 5 organizations of the Russian Federation for “holding hacker cybercs that influenced the election of the US president in 2016 and continue to influence state policy”. However, at the July summit in Helsinki, Trump said that he believes Putin when he denies Russian intervention in the elections.
The American president immediately “got”: from opponents, and from allies, and special services, insulted that their data and conclusions are placed on one bowl of Libra with the approval of the President of the Russian Federation. Trump stubbornly continues to call the work of the Commission of the Special Prosecutor Muller, investigating the “Russian trace” in the elections and the connection of his election headquarters with Moscow, only “witch hunting”. A few days before meeting with Putin, the Big Jury aroused 12 GRU employees in the case of interfering in the elections: names, titles, dates, details (what the Russian President previously demanded from the United States).
And so, less than two months before the intermediate elections to the Congress, where this year, in addition to issues of domestic policy, the voter is interested in the “Russian Topic”, the president made a noticeable move.
The new document, called the “Extraordinary Decree in the field of national security”, provides for sanctions against foreign states interfering with American elections. According to the adviser Bolton, it is not only about the “direct” actions: hackers hackers, voters lists, voting counting, but also about promotion and misinformation. Russia spent millions of dollars, trying to sow discord and cause a split among voters in the 2016 presidential race, using Facebook and other social networks, another subversive tactics, Bolton noted.
Another speaker at a briefing dedicated to the new decree on sanctions, the director of national intelligence Daniel Cowts confirmed his statement that Russia was conducting a "large -scale campaign to weaken and split the country before the Americans go to vote in November." And although "the size of this activity does not compare with what was happening two years ago, everything can change, depending on the simple pressing on the computer keyboard." The head of the intelligence said that the traces of interference in the elections are “noticeable” not only from Russia, but also in China, Iran and North Korea.
In the Decree on sanctions, there are no names of countries. In the preamble of the document, Trump did not fail to note that there is no evidence that ever in the history of America, foreign intervention influenced the election results (it is written, first of all, about its victory in 2016). However, attempts to “use the openness and freedom of our political system using digital technologies and the communication capabilities provided by the Internet” have increased, have become more intense, and this is an “unusual and extraordinary threat” for US foreign policy and national security.
In accordance with the decree:
Within 45 days after the end of the next elections, the director of the exploration in cooperation with other government services must conclude about attempts by foreign states and individuals to influence the elections (names, methods, nature of intervention). This information is at the disposal of the President, State Secretary, Minister of Finance, Minister of Defense, Prosecutor General and Minister of Internal (National) Security;
Over the next 45 days, the Prosecutor General and the head of the internal security department with the help of other agencies and local authorities prepare a detailed report on foreign interference in the elections to the president, Secretary of State, Ministers of Finance and Defense, at the last stage, the Secretary of State and the Minister of Finance present their recommendations for sanctions measures;
Within 30 days from the date of signing the document, the head of the above departments are required to develop a set of practical steps to implement the decree;
The sanctions include, among other things, the freezing of assets and the restriction of access to finance - loans and investments, a ban on entry into the country and deprivation of licenses.
Trump’s decree is very similar to the bill with the long name “On the protection of elections from threats of foreign intervention by holding red lines” (the English abbreviation is Deter ACT, which, in turn, translates as the “Law on Holding), which in January of this year was nominated by two senators - Republican Marco Rubio and Chris Van Hollen. The difference is in detail, in them, as they say, is "hidden the devil." The Senators project offers large -scale sector sanctions that will affect the Russian financial system, energy, defense, mining, etc. The administration is obliged to work with the allies in the European Union so that unilateral sanctions are expanded at the international level. In the initial version of the bill, sanctions were introduced within 10 days. Sanctions will be reflected not only in officials and oligarchs, but also on all citizens of the Russian Federation.
The authors-senators instantly “felt the difference” with the Decree of Trump and noted in a joint statement: “The current statement of the administration recognizes the threat ( foreign intervention in the elections. - A.P .), but contains insufficient measures to eliminate it.” The presidential decree is not a law, it may be canceled by the next administration. Behind Trump, the right to impose or not impose sanctions and determine their scale, although the head of the White House calls the sanctions “automatic”.
On the other hand, supporters of the president in Congress, and these are the heads of both chambers - the leader of the Senate majority of McConnell and the speaker of the House of Representatives of Ryan welcomed the decree. As the adviser John Bolton noted, in response to the fact that Trump’s decree is “a continuation of the reaction to an unsuccessful summit in Helsinki”, “the president’s affairs are better than words.” What are the critics and supporters of Trump: the true meaning of the decree on intervention in the elections will depend on the practical implementation. There are questions here. The threat to introduce in November the second round of sanctions due to Skripals looks closer and more real for us.