SYDNEY, Aug 3, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A new round of sanctions were imposed on
Moscow Saturday by the United States over the 2018 poisoning of former
double-agent Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom.
Russian spies have been blamed for the poisoning of Skripal and his
daughter in the English city of Salisbury in March last year using the
Soviet-developed nerve agent Novichok.
The two survived the attack but a British woman later died after her
partner picked up a discarded perfume bottle investigators believe was used
to carry the Novichok.
Washington said Saturday it will oppose “the extension of any loan or
financial or technical assistance to Russia” by international financial
institutions and put limits on US banks from purchasing Russian sovereign
debt, US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.
The US will also limit the export of goods and technology to Russia that
could be used in the country’s chemical and biological arms programmes,
Ortagus said.
She added that the measures could prevent Russia from accessing “billions
of dollars of bilateral commercial activity with the United States”.
The sanctions will come into effect following a 15 day congressional
notification period — around August 19 — and will remain in place for a
minimum 12 months, according to the US State Department.
The Salisbury attack, the first offensive use of chemical weapons in
Europe since World War II, caused an international outcry and prompted a mass
expulsion of Russian diplomats by Western nations including the US.
London says the attempted assassination was “almost certainly” approved by
Moscow and that Russians Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun were behind the
killing.
However the pair have never been tried and Lugovoi has since become a
lawmaker in Russia.
Moscow denies involvement in the poisoning and has offered numerous and
varied alternative explanations and counter-accusations.
In January the European Union imposed chemical weapons sanctions on nine
Russian and Syrian officials, including the chief of the powerful GRU
military intelligence agency.
Skripal, a former officer with the GRU, was found guilty in 2006 of “high
treason” before being traded in a spy exchange between Moscow, London and
Washington.