US authorities intend to apply new sanctions against Russia as a “response” to “an attempt to poison the British citizen Sergei Skripal and his daughter with chemical or biological weapons.”
A number of media outlets, in particular the NBC news channel, as well as the CNBC channel , reported this with reference to a statement by the US State Department .
The text of the statement published by CNBC states that the US is going to apply new sanctions against Russia on August 22. The statement, as has already become the norm for the American media and US authorities, contains conflicting information.
The closure of the US Consulate General in St. Petersburg after the expulsion of diplomats because of the «Skripals case.» Photo: Anatoly Maltsev / EPA-EFE
In addition to the lack of any real evidence that has not yet been presented in connection with the incident, which included the alleged “poisoning” of Skripals (with their subsequent “miraculous healing from deadly weapons”), in a statement by the US State Department Media, Russia is credited with «an attempt to kill a British citizen … using deadly chemical or biological weapons against their own citizens»:
“After using the novice“ Novichok ”to attempt to kill a British citizen Sergey Skripal and his daughter Julia Skripal, the United States on August 6 established in accordance with the 1991 Law on the Elimination of Chemicals and Biological Weapons that the Government of the Russian Federation used chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law or used deadly chemical or biological weapons against their citizens.
After a 15-day congressional notice period, these sanctions will take effect after the notice is published in the official journal of the US Federal Government on August 22, 2018. ”
The NBC news channel noted that the sanctions that the United States intends to apply against Russia in connection with the Skripals case may include a ban on the supply of a number of electronic components in Russia (in particular, in the aviation sector).
At the same time, NBC news, citing an unnamed official of the US State Department, announced that 3 months after the entry into force of the sanctions, in the case “if Russia does not provide reliable assurances” that it will no longer use chemical weapons in the future and will not agree for certain “inspections”, the “second stage of sanctions” may be applied in the form of lowering diplomatic relations, suspension of the right of the state-owned company Aeroflot to fly to the USA and prohibition of export and import. ”
Such a statement is, in a sense, unprecedented in the practice of the U.S. authorities themselves, when a message about planned sanctions with a specific date of their application with reference to officials of the U.S. Department of State is published in the media, and not through the official channels of information of the U.S. departments (given the seriousness of the sanctions).
BREAKING: Trump admin. is hitting Russia with new sanctions punishing President Putin’s government for using a chemical weapon against an ex-spy in Britain, US officials tell @NBCNews.
— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 8, 2018
