U.S. officials threaten more economic pain if Russia does not change

By Patricia Zengerle and Doina Chiacu

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Washington is prepared to impose more economic pain on Russia if it does not change its behavior, Trump administration officials told a Senate hearing on Tuesday, as U.S. lawmakers pushed for stronger measures to counteract what they see as “malign” Russian activities.

“Though Russia’s malign activities continue, we believe its adventurism undoubtedly has been checked by the knowledge that we can bring much more economic pain to bear using our powerful range of authorities – and that we will not hesitate to do so if its conduct does not demonstrably and significantly change,” Acting Deputy Treasury Secretary Sigal Mandelker told the Senate Banking Committee.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he would like better ties with Moscow, but although he met Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, relations between the two countries have come under further strain as Washington has imposed new sanctions.

U.S. lawmakers have called for even more action – including what one senator called a new sanctions package “from hell” – to punish Russia for actions including its annexation of Crimea, involvement in the Syrian civil war and what U.S. intelligence agencies describe as cyberattacks seeking to influence U.S. elections.

Moscow has repeatedly denied attempting to influence U.S. elections, including the 2016 presidential vote that brought Trump into office.

Christopher Ford, assistant secretary at the State Department’s Bureau Of International Security And Nonproliferation, testified that significant amounts of arms deals between Russia and third countries had been cancelled because of concerns about penalties that could be imposed by the United States.

At a separate Senate hearing on Tuesday, Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell told the Foreign Relations Committee that concern about sanctions has cost Russia $8 to $10 billion in arms deals.

Mitchell said foreign direct investment in Russia has fallen by 80 percent since 2013, “which is a pretty stunning number.”

Separately on Tuesday, the Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on two Russians, one Russian company and one Slovakian firm for what it said were their actions to help another Russian company avoid sanctions targeting Russia’s malicious cyber-related activities.

The United States also announced sanctions on two Russian shipping companies and six vessels it said were involved in the transfer of refined petroleum products to North Korean vessels in violation of U.N. restrictions.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.