Dashed Hopes: Russia, US Bracing for Sanctions War
SputnikNews.com
26.07.2017
The overwhelming approval by the US House of Representatives of a new batch of sanctions against Russia could effectively dash all hopes for normalization of relations between the two countries any time soon, Russian political analysts told Sputnik.
Dashed hopes
In an interview with Sputnik, Moscow-based political analyst and academic Andrei Suzdaltsev said that if the bill becomes law, this would throw US-Russian relations in deep crisis.
“Unfortunately, there is no one left in the US leadership who takes an adequate view of what relations between Russia and the United States should look like,” Suzdaltsev said.
Political scientist Konstantin Blokhin fully concurred, saying that the new US sanctions would overturn all the positive achievement of the recent meeting between Presidents Putin and Trump.
“Trump will eventually have to sign [the bill] because he simply has no choice. Either he sign or he vetoes it and is called a Kremlin agent and sees the veto overturned by Congress,” Blokhin said.
Despite the Trump Administration’s opposition to the bill, it is likely to become law. Even if Trump decides to veto the legislation, he won’t be able to do so since the bill has already passed both chambers by veto-proof margins.
It requires congressional approval before the president can ease or remove existing sanctions. The bill also includes sanctions against Iran and North Korea.
Moscow describes the policy of sanctions the US has chosen in relations with Russia “destructive” and threatens retaliation.
The Rest…HERE
