The US Senate approved a bill providing for additional sanctions against Russia, as well as Iran and North Korea.
As the correspondent of Interfax reported, 98 senators voted for the bill, two voted against. According to the Senate website, the opponents of the document were Republican Senator Rand Paul of the Kentucky Republic and Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from the state of Vermont, who is adjacent to the Democratic Party and in 2016 was one of the main contenders for the role of a Democratic presidential candidate.
On Tuesday, this bill was approved by the House of Representatives of the US Congress. Now the bill will be sent for signature to US President Donald Trump.
The bill, in particular, provides for the imposition of sanctions on various sectors of the Russian economy. In addition, the codification of already existing restrictions is proposed, which will deprive the US administration of the opportunity to independently decide on the fate of sanctions against Russia.
According to the document, Washington will continue to oppose the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, as it “has a harmful effect on the energy security of the European Union, the development of the gas market in Central and Eastern Europe and Ukraine’s energy reforms.” The draft law notes that sanctions should not affect the cooperation of the US and Russia in the space sphere.