Trump extends sanctions against Russia for another year
US President Donald Trump has extended sanctions against Russia for another year due to its annexation of the Crimea and aggression in Ukraine, the White House website reports.
"In accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act, I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660," the statement says.
The document notes that Russia's actions in Ukraine including the Crimea's annexation and aggression in the Donbas "continue to undermine democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine; threaten its peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; and contribute to the misappropriation of state assets".
The United States imposed sanctions against Russia in 2014 due to the annexation of Crimea, and later expanded and renewed them several times.
On Janaury 30, The US Treasury published the Kremlin List, with a total of 210 people, including Russian government officials headed by Dmitry Medvedev, the heads of major Russian state companies, and members of the Russian Forbes list with wealth worth more than $1 billion. There are 96 Russian oligarchs in the list, whose fortune is estimated at more than $1 billion.
The document was prepared within the framework of the bill "On Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act" and sent to the US Congress, but does not in itself imply automatic imposition of sanctions against the persons listed therein.
Putin in turn stated that the "Kremlin list" complicated Russian-American relations, but in the meantime the Russian Federation did not plan to respond to this "unfriendly act".