The head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Senate, Robert Menendez, proposed an amendment to the draft defense budget, which implies the introduction of sanctions restrictions against Russia in the event of Moscow’s “hostile actions” against Ukraine.
“New significant sanctions should be introduced if the Russian government carries out military escalation or other hostile operations against Ukraine […] It will be necessary to assess every 15 days whether there is a significant escalation of hostilities against Ukraine compared to the state of affairs before November 1, 2021 years”, suggested Menendez.
According to the senator, sanctions should be introduced against the top Russian leadership, including the head of state, ministers, and the military. In addition, Menendez also proposed imposing sanctions against Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, Promsvyazbank, the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, and other Russian structures and enterprises.
The press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said earlier that the information in the Western media about the preparations for “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine” is empty and unfounded. Peskov stressed that the movement of the Russian armed forces across the territory of the country should not cause concern for other states, since the Russian Federation does not pose a threat to anyone.