The Trump administration has decided to delay the enforcement of new sanctions on Russia despite the passage of a law in 2017 that seeks to penalize the country for its interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, Reuters reported Monday.
“Today, we have informed Congress that this legislation and its implementation are deterring Russian defense sales,†Heather Nauert, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said in a statement.
“Since the enactment of the … legislation, we estimate that foreign governments have abandoned planned or announced purchases of several billion dollars in Russian defense acquisitions,†she added.
President Donald Trump signed in August 2017 the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.
The measure established a Monday deadline for the White House to release a report that outlines the potential consequences of U.S. sanctions on Russia as well as name individuals and entities that have ties to Russian intelligence and defense agencies.
“From that perspective, if the law is working, sanctions on specific entities or individuals will not need to be imposed because the legislation is, in fact, serving as a deterrent,†Nauert noted in her statement.
