New U.S. sanctions "closing off the prospect for normalizing ties," Russian diplomat says
MOSCOW -- A senior Russian diplomat said Wednesday that a new package of U.S. sanctions against Russia harms chances for improving the ties between the two countries, pushing them into "uncharted territory," and that they "defied common sense," CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata reports.
Russian officials welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump's presidential win last year, hoping to mend relations with the United States, which reached a post-Cold War low under President Barack Obama. But six months into Mr. Trump's presidency, ties between the two countries remained tense, and the much-anticipated first meeting between Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin early this month did not seem to produce any tangible results.
Eager to punish Russia for meddling in the 2016 election, the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed a new package of sanctions against Moscow that prohibits Mr. Trump from waiving the penalties without first getting permission from Congress.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov criticized the move on Wednesday as "closing off the prospect for normalizing ties." He said it "defied common sense" and told the Interfax news agency the new sanctions are pushing Russia and the U.S. "into uncharted territory both in political and diplomatic sense."
In a press briefing, Kremlin spokeperson Dmitry Peskov called the proposed new sanctions unfriendly, and said "the attitude to this (law) will be formed on the basis of a thorough analysis, and the decision (on how to respond) will certainly be taken by the head of state, President Putin," the Reuters news agency reported.
"Right now we can say that this is rather sad news from the point of view of Russia-U.S. ties and their further development," Peskov continued. "This is no less disheartening from the point of view of international law and international trade relations.... But let's now wait until it becomes a law," he said.
The director of the Russian International Affairs Council, Andrei Kortunov, told CBS News that Russians aren't happy about being put in the same category as Iran and North Korea.
"Basically, the signal is: You three bad guys will get the same treatment from the United States congress," Kortunov said. "And with all due respect, but Russia is not North Korea."
Another lawmaker said the only course ahead was to come up with a "painful" response to Washington's move, D'Agata reports.
Meanwhile, the European Union had its own concerns with the new proposed set of sanctions. On Wednesday, EU commissioners released a statement which "expressed their concerns notably because of the draft bill's possible impact on EU energy independence," the AFP news agency reported.
France's foreign ministry said Wednesday that the sanctions could violate international law, Reuters reported, and Germany said it would examine the new package.
Germany and Austria in recent weeks have criticized the planned penalties, saying they could affect European businesses involved in piping Russian natural gas.
German spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said Wednesday that Germany opposes in principle "sanctions with extraterritorial effects." She added it's important for the European Union and the U.S. to continue closely coordinating sanctions against Russia and "in this light, we will examine in detail the bill that has now been approved."
German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said the U.S. isn't entitled to tell European companies how to do business with a third country, but the legislation has improved from the original proposal.