World War 3? US and Russia tensions SOAR as Putin vows ‘reciprocal measures’ on America
RUSSIA has vowed to respond in kind to new sanctions imposed by the United States as relations between the two nuclear powers continue to sour.
By HARVEY GAVIN
Express.co.uk
Thu, Dec 21, 2017
Officials in Moscow pledged to impose “reciprocal measures” after the US Treasury Department announced its expansion of the Magnitsky Act.
The 2012 bill forbids all transactions between 49 sanctioned individuals and American citizens, freezes any assets they had in the United States and also bans them from entering the country.
And the Act has earned the ire of Russian President Vladimir Putin because it targets some senior figures in his administration.
In response to the US move, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters today: “Of course this all is looking as a grotesque already, because it is not based on any reality whatsoever.
“Unfortunately we are forced to reiterate our position which boils down to the fact that all these steps would be followed by reciprocal measures.”
These new sanctions are the latest in a series of blows to US-Russia relations, and come at a time of heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula and Russian aggression in Eastern Europe.
The Magnitsky Act was drawn up by President Barack Obama’s administration in response to human rights violations and high-level tax fraud by the individuals named in the bill.
The sanctions were named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer and whistleblower who uncovered what he said was a massive tax scam by Russian officials and police officers.
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