The House of Representatives of the US Congress adopted the country’s defense budget in the amount of about $ 780 billion. The draft budget also provides for tougher sanctions against Russia. New restrictions apply to the Russian state debt and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, and it is also proposed to impose sanctions against 35 Russians for human rights violations.
316 congressmen voted in support of the draft budget, 113 against, RIA Novosti reports. The document includes three types of sanctions:
- against the Russian government debt (a ban on the purchase and sale by American investors of new issues of Russian bonds in the secondary market);
- against 35 Russians for human rights violations (in the sanctions list, in particular, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Head of the Ministry of Health Mikhail Murashko, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin);
- expansion of restrictions against the Russian gas pipeline “Nord Stream-2”.
Now the draft defense budget must be considered by the Senate, after which the document will be sent for signature to US President Joe Biden.
In June, the United States imposed sanctions prohibiting the purchase of Russian government bonds during the initial offering. Later, Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman proposed an amendment extending this ban to the secondary market, the US House of Representatives supported it. In August, Washington expanded the sanctions list for Nord Stream 2, but did not extend the restrictions to the construction operator Nord Stream 2 AG.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation proposed to impose sanctions against 35 Russians (liquidated foreign agent, the organization is recognized as extremist, its activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation). On September 22, the sanctions bill was approved by the US House of Representatives Rules Committee. The Kremlin considered Washington’s initiative “intra-parliamentary exercises,” and the Russian Foreign Ministry warned the United States “against a rash step.”
Read more about the sanctions threatening Russia in the material “Kommersant FM” “The United States Targets the National Debt.”
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