April 15, 2018

The Trump Administration Just Announced More Sanctions Against Russia

This time it’s in response to the suspected chemical attack in Syria.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin during the APEC Summit in 2017.Jorge Silva/Pool Photo via AP

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In the wake of last week’s suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Sunday that the United States will soon move to impose more sanctions on Russia. The Kremlin has been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s most important ally in the country’s lengthy civil war. Haley has criticized Russia for supporting Assad’s regime and for blocking international efforts to investigate Syria’s suspected chemical weapons use. 

“You will see that Russian sanctions will be coming down,” Haley said on CBS News’ Face the Nation. “[Treasury] Secretary [Steven] Mnuchin will be announcing those on Monday if he hasn’t already, and they will go directly to any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to Assad and chemical weapons use.” 

On Friday, President Donald Trump launched what he described as “precision” missile strikes against Syria, in a joint operation with the United Kingdom and France. The strikes targeted a research facility near the Syrian capital of Damascus and suspected chemical weapons storage facilities near Homs. 

Haley stressed that the United States did not want to start a war, but that it wanted to make it clear to Syria and its allies that there would be consequences for the use of chemical weapons. “Our goal was to send a very strong message to Assad and his friends that we are not going to watch them continue to use chemical weapons on their people,” said Haley. 

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced separate sanctions against several Russian oligarchs with ties to President Vladimir Putin. 

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