"The desire to press and gain an advantage": the US House of Representatives approved the amendment on sanctions against Russia

The US House of Representatives approved an amendment to the military budget, providing for the imposition of sanctions against Russian sovereign debt. The authors of the initiative Democrats from the state of California Brad Sherman and Maxine Waters explain these restrictions by the “interference” of Moscow in the elections.

“This amendment implies real, serious sanctions against the Russian state and provides that no US citizen will be able to make new deals with the sovereign debt of Russia,” Sherman explained his position.

The congressman noted that a mechanism was proposed for lifting sanctions in the event that the US administration "came to the conclusion" that Russia did not intervene in the US elections "at least during one election cycle."

“We need a serious mechanism to punish Russia for what it did with our previous elections and to keep it from interfering with future elections,” Sherman emphasized.

Note that the second author of the amendment, Maxine Waters, has repeatedly introduced various anti-Russian initiatives to the congress, in particular, it proposed banning American companies from participating in oil production projects in the Russian Federation. In April, she said that Moscow intends to "intervene" in the elections in 2020.

At the same time, Waters repeatedly made curious mistakes in her speeches. So, she said that Russia is "attacking Korea." And she talked with Vranom and Lexus prankers, who spoke to her on behalf of the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Vladimir Groisman, and discussed "Russia's interference in the Limpopo elections," where Moscow "established the regime of its Aibolit puppet." Then Waters promised to make a statement about this.

In the United States, they have repeatedly proposed imposing sanctions against the public debt of Russia. One of the last such initiatives was put forward by a group of Democratic congressmen called “The Blue Dog Coalition” (it declares with its goals the struggle for fiscal responsibility and the promotion of national defense). They also explained these restrictions by the “interference” of Russia in the elections.

"The desire to make a profit and profit"

Russia has repeatedly noted the unsubstantiated accusations of “interference” in the American elections. Thus, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview with the Italian edition of Corriere della Sera, indicated that Washington did not provide any evidence, but the sanctions against the Russian Federation in this regard are still in force.

“The peak of the absurd was the accusation of Russia of interfering in the American elections. How it all ended is well known - zilch. And the conclusions of the Muller Commission on the absence of such a conspiracy are understandable; it was not possible to scrape up the facts, because they simply did not exist in nature. But what is interesting is that the sanctions that were imposed against our country under the pretext of these accusations are still in effect, ”Putin said.

In another interview, the British Financial Times, the Russian leader noted that the victory of Donald Trump in the presidential election in 2016 was due to his election campaign, and not the imaginary influence of Moscow.

“Russia was accused and, despite the Muller report, continues, oddly enough, to continue to spin this record with the accusations of Russia related to the mythical interference in the US elections. In fact, what happened there? Mr. Trump, in contrast to his opponents, subtly felt what happened in American society, subtly felt changes within American society, and he used it, ”said Putin.

Recall Muller's report on "Russian intervention" was published on April 18. The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the document only confirms the absence of any arguments and evidence of allegations that Moscow allegedly interfered in the elections.

By accusing Russia of “interfering”, the United States justifies sanctions and restrictions that are beneficial to Washington, member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Anton Morozov is convinced.

“We have stated many times that Russia did not interfere in the American elections and this is not at all interesting for us. Nevertheless, the opinion that Russia is guilty of this is still dominant in the American information space. Such absurd accusations are often used to justify their actions, caused, in fact, by the desire to extract some kind of profit and benefit, ”Morozov said in a conversation with RT.

The American political elite cannot abandon the sanctions policy, although there are no arguments for their introduction, says Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies.

“If the sanctions policy ends with the will of the American political elite, it will mean for her that she has lost something. That she did not achieve the result and refused to impose sanctions, ”he told RT.

“There is a desire to put pressure on Russia and get a one-sided advantage. In any case, even if the American side goes to any consultations, it will always keep what is called a loaded pistol in its pocket, will try to use it as soon as such an opportunity presents itself, ”Bruter added.

In addition, the topic of “Russian intervention” can help democrats in the fight with US President Donald Trump on the eve of the 2020 elections, said Vladimir Batyuk, head of the Center for Military-Political Studies of the Institute for Sociology and Political Sciences.

“Naturally, it is advantageous for political opponents of Donald Trump to pedal the theme“ Trump is Putin's spy ”in every possible way. The introduction of new anti-Russian sanctions is just an integral part of this campaign, the expert stressed in an interview with RT. “This hype helps keep public opinion in good shape and keep Trump's opponents mobilized.”

“Wouldn’t meet security priorities”

It should be noted that the defense budget, to which the Democrats introduced an amendment, was not adopted by the House of Representatives. In the event that the lower chamber approves it, it will be necessary to coordinate the document with the senate in order to transfer it for signature to the president.

At the same time, the US authorities cannot agree on a common position on the issue of the defense budget for the 2020 fiscal year. The House of Representatives, the majority in which belongs to the Democrats, insists that the Pentagon should receive $ 733 billion. However, the Senate, which is controlled by the Republicans, and the US president insist on the allocation of $ 750 billion.

The White House has already threatened that Trump could block the draft defense budget.

"The level of funding that would be sanctioned by the bill - $ 733 billion for national defense - is $ 17 billion below the request for the fiscal year 2020 and would not adequately meet the critical national security priorities," the statement said.