Washington is evaluating additional Russian individuals for possible sanctioning, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in an interview with CBS.
“We’ve taken steps that have already prevented a number of Russian military sales as a result of the legislation. And we are evaluating additional individuals for… possible sanctioning,” Tillerson said when asked if Washington planned to implement the sanctions that the US Congress wanted to see put on Moscow.
Washington was expected to announce an expanded Russian sanctions list on January 29. The US administration eventually informed the Congress about the measures it was taking to prevent other countries from maintaining military cooperation with Russia. A senior US Department of State official said on the occasion that January 29 “was not a deadline to impose sanctions, it was actually a start date.” However, it is up to the US Department of the Treasury to make decisions on sanctioning Russian individuals and organizations mentioned in the so-called Kremlin List, which includes the names of 210 Russian officials, major businessmen and CEOs of state companies. In particular, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, all of his deputies and all 22 Russian government ministers are on the list.