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According to one source, UK officials plan to urge the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to maintain pressure on Russia to respond to the use of banned substances and will develop potential measures with key allies in Europe, including France and Germany. . In the next weeks.
On Tuesday, Joe Biden’s administration announced the first sanctions against Russia, punishing the Kremlin for poisoning and jailing opposition leader Alexei Navaln. The sanctions are similar to those imposed by the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom and are primarily aimed at senior Russian law enforcement officials and other supporters of President Vladimir Putin.
With the release of this information, the ruble weakened against the dollar and fell to its lowest value that day.
According to sources, the United States should carefully follow the provisions of the 1991 Chemical Weapons Prohibition Act and impose further sanctions unless Russia adheres to certain conditions, including reassurance that it will no longer use chemical weapons and allow inspections of alleged chemical weapons development sites.
These sanctions are the latest sign of growing tensions between Washington and Moscow. Relations between the parties could worsen further if Russia retaliates or if the United States imposes more sanctions.
All sources agreed to speak only if their anonymity was guaranteed, as the subject is sensitive. Spokesmen for the White House National Security Council and the UK Foreign Office did not comment on the situation on Thursday.
UK officials are discussing new measures with Americans in similar positions. One of the reasons for further action would be further obstruction of Russia’s investigation into the Navaln poisoning, the source said.
On Thursday, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called on Russia to fulfill its obligations under international law.
“These attacks are unacceptable. We urge Russia to investigate and fulfill its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention,” he wrote on Twitter.
On the same day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent a similar message.
The United States could increase pressure on Russia by imposing sanctions on oligarchs under the Magnicki Act, which gives the president the power to sanction people for human rights abuses or corruption, the sources said.
Two people familiar with the situation said that if Russia seriously violated the international ban on the production and use of chemical weapons again, President Biden would consider imposing sanctions on public debt if this could be done in cooperation with Europe.
In 2018, the US Department of Finance, then Secretary to Steven Mnuchin, warned of turmoil in the global financial market if sanctions were imposed on the Russian government bond market.
According to the Finance Department, such a decision could destabilize the markets, as Russia’s bond market is extremely pegged to global indices.
Still, others say that Russia will now opt for a euro-denominated bond issue rather than a dollar-denominated bond issue, so the negative impact may be less than previously thought. This is the opinion of Daleep Singh, who served in the Finance Department during the reign of Barack Obama and is now vice chairman of Biden’s National Security Council.
2019 Singh witnessed a congressional meeting on Russia and supported a proposal to restrict the purchase of Russian government bonds to protect America’s national security interests. He then said that the ban on buying Russian government bonds would not have done as much damage to the global market as global investors have been struggling to have fewer deals with the country since 2014, when the Obama administration began imposing sanctions on Russia.
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