Another step to sour ties
Russia Tuesday criticised Washington's blacklisting of a high-ranking official and the suspects in the murder of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko as a move by the outgoing administration to further sour bilateral ties.
The statement came as senior US Republican and Democratic senators were set to introduce legislation yesterday seeking to impose a wide range of sanctions on Russia over its cyber activities and actions in Syria and Ukraine.
The legislation is sponsored by Republican Senator John McCain and Democrats Ben Cardin and Robert Menendez, all influential legislators on foreign policy matters. Aides said several other senators, both Democrats and Republicans, are also expected to sponsor the legislation, increasing its chances of becoming law.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the US decision to blacklist Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin and Litvinenko's alleged assassins, lawmaker Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, represented "further steps in the artificially created degradation of our relations".
"We deeply regret the fact that a lingering period of unprecedented degradation in our bilateral ties occurred during (US President Barack) Obama's second presidential term," Peskov said. "We are convinced that this does not coincide with our interests or that of Washington."
The US Treasury on Monday added Bastrykin, Lugovoi and Kovtun to the Magnitsky Act sanctions list in the latest spike of diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Washington.
According to a preliminary summary of the legislation seen by Reuters, the bill would impose visa bans and freeze the assets of people "who engage in significant activities undermining the cybersecurity of public or private infrastructure and democratic institutions" or assist in such activities.
It would also impose secondary sanctions on those who engage with the Russian defense or intelligence sectors, which could affect international companies doing business with Russia. It also puts into law sanctions on Russia that President Barack Obama imposed via executive order late last month.
US lawmakers have long called for a tougher response to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and intervention in the Syrian civil war on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Their impatience has increased since US intelligence agencies said Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a campaign to try to sway the 2016 presidential election in favor of Republican businessman Donald Trump.
The bill also sets new sanctions over Ukraine and Syria, including putting into law four executive orders from the Obama administration sanctioning Russia over its actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
Litvinenko, an ex-spy turned Kremlin critic, died of radiation poisoning in 2006 aged 43, three weeks after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium at an upmarket London hotel.
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