According to RIA Novosti, 57 senators spoke in favor of further discussion of the document during the voting, 42 against.
It is noted that the Republicans controlling the upper house of congress tried to block the document and not to put it to the vote. However, only 42 senators were in favor of such a proposal.
In addition to the Senate, the resolution should be adopted by the House of Representatives, where the majority is among the Democrats, and if adopted, for signature to the President. According to the CAATSA law, under which sanctions were imposed, if such a resolution is adopted on behalf of the two chambers, the president cannot lift the sanctions within 12 days, and if he imposes a veto on the resolution, within 10 days.
The initiator of this resolution was the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer. In his opinion, the sanctions could not effectively limit the control of businessman Oleg Deripaska over the companies mentioned and the impact on them.
Earlier it became known that the head of the US Treasury Department, Stephen Mnuchin, after meeting with the US congressmen, confirmed his intention to lift the sanctions from RUSAL, En + and Eurosibenergo.
December 19, it became known that the US Treasury Department intends to exclude companies from the sanctions list within 30 days.
Leading researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Konstantin Blokhin, in an interview with the FBA “Economics Today,” evaluated the US sanctions policy towards Russia.