· President Vladimir Putin said the United States would have to cut its diplomatic staff in Russia by 755 people and that Moscow could consider additional measures against Washington as a response to new U.S. sanctions approved by Congress.
Moscow ordered the United States on Friday to cut hundreds of diplomatic staff and said it would seize two U.S. diplomatic properties after the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate overwhelmingly approved new sanctions on Russia. The White House said on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump would sign the sanctions bill.
Putin said in an interview with Vesti TV released on Sunday that the United States would have to cut its diplomatic and technical staff by 755 people by Sept. 1.
On Friday, an official at the U.S. Embassy, who did not wish to be identified, said the embassy employed about 1,100 diplomatic and support staff in Russia, including Russian and U.S. citizens.
· President Donald Trump has reviewed the final version of Russia sanctions legislation and plans to sign it, the White House announced Friday night.
Signing the bill into law will send an inexperienced and undisciplined White House into an escalating confrontation with Russia at a time when safeguards to reduce tensions have eroded and domestic pressure in both countries will make it hard to reverse course.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Saturday that he hoped the legislation would spur Russia to seek a better relationship with Washington.
"The near unanimous votes for the sanctions legislation in Congress represent the strong will of the American people to see Russia take steps to improve relations with the United States," Tillerson said in a statement. "We hope that there will be cooperation between our two countries on major global issues and these sanctions will no longer be necessary."
But Russia will likely retaliate in ways that go beyond the expulsion of US diplomats and the seizure of American diplomatic recreation areas that took place Friday, said George Beebe, a former director of Russia analysis at the CIA, and others. Russia is likely to more actively work against US interests on the international stage.
· In spring 2014, a number of Western countries led by the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia in an attempt to change the Kremlin’s policy towards Ukraine. Initially, sanctions targeted individuals close to the Russian leadership, as well as key decision-makers, forbidding them to enter the U.S. and EU member states and freezing their assets in those countries.
This type of sanctions soon appeared to be ineffective, convincing Western states to change their strategy by imposing sectoral sanctions. With the crisis in Ukraine escalating, the scope of sanctions increased, ultimately targeting sectors of the Russian economy such as energy, banking and finance, defense and high tech.
1st ROUND OF SANCTIONS
|
US sanctions |
EU sanctions |
|
Mach 6,16,20,2014 · 23 senior government officials · 4 members of Putin’s inner circle · Bank Rossiya
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March 17,21,2014: · 25 Russian government officials · 8 Ukrainian officials |
2nd ROUND OF SANCTIONS
|
US sanctions |
EU sanctions |
|
April 28,2014: · 5 high ranking officials · 2 leaders of state-owned companies · 17 legal entities linked to Putin’s inner circle |
April28,May 12,2014: · 28 individuals,including government officials · 2 legal entities |
3rd ROUND OF SANCTIONS
|
US sanctions |
EU sanctions |
|
July 16,2014 · 4 government officials · 2 energy firms · 2 banks · 8 defense industry companies
|
July 25,30,31,2014: · 23 individuals · 3 Russian state-owned companies · 4 banks · 18 entities |
4th ROUND OF SANCTIONS
|
US sanctions |
EU sanctions |
|
Sep.12,2014: · A state corporation ‘Rostec’ · 5 energy firms · 4 banks · 4 high-tech companies
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Sep.12,2014: · 24 individuals Russian politicians and Ukrainian separatists · 3 energy giants · 12 military enterprises |
Reference: Reuters, Russia-direct, CNN
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