Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said new US sanctions constituted a “full-fledged economic war” on Moscow, saying they crushed hopes for repairing ties and demonstrated US President Donald Trump’s “total weakness ... in the most humiliating way.”
Trump signed off on the new sanctions on Wednesday.
Medvedev said that the move would have “consequences.”
“It ends hopes for improving our relations with the new US administration,” Medvedev said.
“Second, it is a declaration of a full-fledged economic war on Russia,” he wrote on Facebook.
“The Trump administration has shown its total weakness by handing over executive power to [the US] Congress in the most humiliating way,” he said.
Trump signed the legislation behind closed doors and indicated reluctance to do so, calling the legislation “significantly flawed.”
“In its haste to pass this legislation, the Congress included a number of clearly unconstitutional provisions,” Trump said, including curbs on the president’s ability to negotiate with Russia.
“I built a truly great company worth many billions of dollars,” Trump said. “That is a big part of the reason I was elected. As president, I can make far better deals with foreign countries than Congress.”
The legislation — which also includes measures against North Korea and Iran — targets the Russian energy sector, giving Washington the ability to impose sanctions on companies involved in developing Russian pipelines and placing curbs on some Russian weapons exporters.
The Russian sanctions constrain presidential abilities to waive penalties.
In his statement, Trump said: “The framers of our constitution put foreign affairs in the hands of the president. This bill will prove the wisdom of that choice.”
In rebuttal, US Senator John McCain said: “The framers of our constitution made the Congress and the president coequal branches of government. This bill has already proven the wisdom of that choice.”
“I hope the president will be as vocal about Russia’s aggressive behavior as he was about his concerns with this legislation,” McCain said.
The sanctions seek to penalize the Kremlin for allegedly meddling in last year’s US presidential election and for Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Trump said he would honor some of the bill’s provisions, but stopped short of saying it would be fully implemented.
The White House said that Trump would give “careful and respectful consideration” to the preferences of Congress
“I am signing this bill for the sake of national unity. It represents the will of the American people to see Russia take steps to improve relations with the United States,” Trump said.
Trump received the legislation at 1:53pm on Friday last week, but waited until Wednesday to sign it.
The delay had raised speculation that Trump might veto or try to somehow shelve the sanctions, which were approved in a 98-2 Senate vote.
By signing it, he avoided the prospect of Congress overriding his veto.
Expecting the signature, Moscow pre-emptively ordered Washington to reduce its diplomatic presence in Russia to 455 people before Sept. 1 — bringing it in line with the size of Russia’s mission in the US.
The Kremlin said that Trump signing the sanctions “doesn’t change anything.”
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the sanctions had put global stability at risk, calling them a “dangerous” and “short-sighted” policy.
“We have already shown that we are not going to leave hostile acts unanswered ... and we obviously reserve the right to take retaliatory measures,” it said.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he would meet with Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov over the weekend, but warned that US-Russia ties could still get worse.
Tillerson said the Congress’ decision to pass the sanctions bill had made attempts to thaw ties “more difficult.”
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