Russia clarifies to the European Union its position on fresh US sanctions imposed on Russia and in particular, informs Brussels of repercussions stemming from the bill, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said in a televised interview with the Rossiya’24 channel on Wednesday.
“The gist of a diplomat’s work does involve contacts, clarification of our stance, clarification of those repercussions that might stem from [adoption of the bill slapping more sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea],” Chizhov said, noting that further bilateral collaboration between the EU and Russia would depend on Brussel’s response to the new US sanctions.
The US House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill to toughen individual US sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea. A total of 419 lawmakers supported the bill, with only three votes against.
The document will be handed over to the Senate, where it enjoys widespread support from both Democrats and Republicans.
If approved by the US legislature, the bill will be forwarded to US President Donald Trump. Should the US president sign it into law, it would be possible to remove the sanctions only by adopting another piece of legislation. Over the past several days, the White House has been signaling that President Trump is ready to sign the document.
On July 26, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker said that the upper chamber would likely to make amendments to the bill enacting new sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea.