The President of United States (U.S.) – Donald Trump has attacked Russia with fresh sanctions over the poisoning of the former Double Agent – Sergei Skripal in 2018 in United Kingdom (U.K.).
Under the new sanctions, Russia would be barred from getting any financial or technical assistance. The U.S. banks limit from purchasing Russian sovereign debt. The U.S. will also reduce the export of goods and technology to Russia that could be used in the country’s chemical and biological arms programmes. The move is aimed at blocking Russia from accessing billions of dollars of bilateral commercial activity with the U.S.
The fresh sanctions will come into effect around August 15, 2019, after adhering to 15 days of Congressional notification period. The sanctions will remain for a minimum period of 1 year.
The Spokesperson for U.S. Department of States – Morgan Ortagus tweeted, “The U.S. today is announcing a 2nd round of sanctions on #Russia after its use of a #novichok nerve agent in the assassination attempt on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in March 2018. Russia has failed to take responsibility and has not disavowed use of chemical weapons.”
The U.S. today is announcing a 2nd round of sanctions on #Russia after its use of a #novichok nerve agent in the assassination attempt on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in March 2018. Russia has failed to take responsibility and has not disavowed use of chemical weapons. pic.twitter.com/sAmaWV4PJC
— Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) August 3, 2019
The U.S. imposed the 1st round of sanctions last year which included bans on arms sales and exports of national security-sensitive goods to Russia.
Reacting to the U.S.’s move, Russia said that new sanctions will further hurt the already tensed ties between the 2 nations. Russia further said that its prepared to counter the negative consequences of the fresh sanction. The Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia – Sergei Ryabkov said he regretted that the relationship between the 2 superpowers has become a political football in the U.S.
The Case of Sergei Skripal
Sergei Skripal is a Former Officer of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation who acted as double agent for U.K.’s intelligence during 1990’s and early 2000s. He was arrested by the Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and was convicted of high treason in December 2004. As a result, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison. However, he settled down in U.K. in 2010 using the Illegals Program spy swap.
The Illegals Program (as named by the U.S. Department of Justice) was a network of Russian sleeper agents under non-official cover. An investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) culminated in the arrest of 10 agents and a prisoner exchange programme between Russia and the U.S. on July 9, 2010.
Later, on March 4, 2018, he and his daughter Yulia, were poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in U.K. The Novichok nerve agent is a series of binary chemical weapons developed by the Soviet Union and Russia between 1971 and 1993. It is the deadliest nerve agent ever made.
They were immediately rushed to Salisbury District Hospital. Presently, both Skripal and his Yulia are fine. In this whole episode, a British woman had died after her partner picked up a discarded perfume bottle in which the Novichok nerve agent was kept.
The U.S. believes that Russian spies were behind the poising of Skripal and Yulia. It has termed this act as an attempt to murder. The U.K. also stated that Russian agents, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, were behind the attack. However, Russia has denied any involvement in the entire act.
