US Treasury Department lifts sanctions from three Deripaska companies
On Sunday, the US Treasury Department announced that it was lifting the sanctions previously imposed on three companies associated with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska: US Rusal PLC, En + Group PLC and JSC EuroSibEnergo.
The decision was made despite the demands of Democrats in Congress to keep the restrictions imposed on these companies. Earlier, Republican legislators who hold the majority in the Senate blocked an attempt to keep the sanctions in effect.
According to the administration, Trump and many Republican lawmakers who opposed this attempt are concerned about the impact of the measures on aluminum industry on a global scale. They also emphasized that Oleg Deripaska, who is linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has reduced the number of his shares in those companies and no longer controls them.
Some lawmakers believe that the timing of the Treasury Department’s decision was wrong. The investigation into the possible collusion of Trump’s election headquarters with Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign is still underway.