FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

Kremlin Spokesman Says U.S. Sanctions Bill Borders on Racketeering

Feb. 14, 2019 (EIRNS)—Responding to the U.S. Senators’ efforts to impose new sanctions on Russia by proposing a bill on Feb. 13 called the “Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act (DASKA)” of 2019, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said behind such proposals

“there is an absolutely concrete, pragmatic and aggressive trading approach, having nothing to do with international trade rules.... This policy sometimes borders on racketeering. I mean various provisions of the draft law aimed at disrupting various energy projects of Russian companies, undermining the activities of Russian banks with state participation,”

Peskov said, reported TASS.

The proposed legislation, an updated version of an earlier bill that did not muster enough support, seeks to increase economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on Russia “in response to Russia’s interference in democratic processes abroad, malign influence in Syria, and aggression against Ukraine, including in the Kerch Strait,” said Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who proposed the bill with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), among other members of the Foreign Relations Committee.