The U.S. Imposes New Sanctions on Russia

On Wednesday, August 8, the U.S. State Department spokesperson stated that due to Russia's role in the chemical poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Salisbury, UK, Washington has imposed new sanctions against Moscow. According to Reuters, Heather Nauert said: Following the use of the nerve agent 'Novichok' to assassinate British citizen Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal, the United States concluded on August 6, 2018, that the government of the Russian Federation had violated international law by using chemical or biological weapons or had used lethal chemical or biological weapons against its own citizens under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control Act of 1991. The U.S. State Department spokesperson mentioned that these new sanctions against Russia will be implemented by August 22, two weeks from now. Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in the Russian military intelligence service, had sought asylum in the UK after spying for the U.S. and was poisoned along with his daughter in mid-March 2018. British officials later announced that the toxic substance was named 'Novichok' and was only available to the former Soviet Union. Russia denies these allegations. However, a U.S. State Department official stated on Wednesday that these sanctions will include sensitive security goods. The official added that exemptions will be made for activities related to space flight and air travel safety. He emphasized that the second phase of these new sanctions against Russia will be implemented in three months unless Russia provides sufficient guarantees that it will not use chemical weapons in the future and agrees to UN inspections of specified sites. This official from the U.S. State Department clarified that the second phase of these sanctions will be more severe than the first. Just last month, a British woman who was exposed to a small bottle containing Novichok near Salisbury, the site of Sergei Skripal's poisoning, died, and her husband, who was also poisoned, is still receiving treatment in the hospital. The motive for the attack on Sergei Skripal, who was handed over to the UK by Russia eight years ago during a spy swap, remains unclear. Sergei Skripal and his daughter fell into a coma due to poisoning and after weeks in intensive care, they partially regained their health. The British government has moved Mr. Skripal and his daughter to a secret location for their safety.