The Kremlin is threatening the Biden administration with severe repercussions over a new U.S. sanctions package, bringing the troubled U.S.-Russian relationship to an unprecedented low.
The Biden administration imposed a robust sanctions package this week targeting the Russian economy. The measures included sanctions on all debt Russia issues after June 14, preventing U.S. financial institutions from buying government bonds from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation, or the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. The directive “provides authority for the U.S. government to expand sovereign debt sanctions on Russia as appropriate,” laying the groundwork for further sovereign debt sanctions against Russia in the future. The package also contained sanctions against six Russian companies thought to be associated with Russian cyberhacking operations. Finally, ten officials at the Russian embassy in the United States, all identified as intelligence officers, will be expelled. […]
Despite Biden’s apparent attempt to qualify the scope and nature of the punishments so as to make them more politically palatable for Russia, these measures were met with an overwhelmingly hostile reaction in Moscow. The Kremlin, which warned repeatedly in recent months that it will not tolerate further sanctions from the West, vowed an imminent response. On the following day, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced the tit-for-tat expulsion of ten U.S. diplomats: “Ten diplomats were on a list the U.S. side handed over to us asking to ensure their leaving the United States. We will give a tit-for-tat response to that. We will also ask ten U.S. diplomats to leave our country,” he said. Läs artikel