US State Department: Russia can avoid sanctions under several conditions
The US State Department announced that the United States is ready to cancel anti-Russian sanctions due to Skripal's poisoning under several conditions.
According to the message of Washington, in the next three months, Russia has to assure that it will not use chemical or biological weapons, reported RBC news agency. In addition, Russian authorities shall not obstruct the work of UN inspectors and independent international observers.
The second package of sanctions stipulates reduction of diplomatic relations, as well as the reduction of foreign trade to a minimum and the prohibiting the Russian air carrier Aeroflot to fly to the US.
On Wednesday, the media disclosed the content of the bill on new sanctions against the Russian Federation introduced to the Congress. The bill proposes to recognize Russia as a “sponsor of terrorism” and to prohibit Russian state banks from transactions in US dollars.
Nevertheless, there will be exceptions from the first package, in particular, sanctions will not concern the supply of civil aviation equipment and the cooperation in the space sphere.
Another reason for new sanctions can be the poisoning of Sergey Skripal, an ex-colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate, and his daughter in Great Britain. London believes that they were poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok developed in Russia. However, Russia still rejects these accusations.