Report: US, UK weigh more Russia sanctions, possibly targeting debt

LONDON/WASHINGTON, Mar 5 (PRIME) -- The U.S. and the U.K. are considering more sanctions on Russia over the use of chemical weapons, including sanctions on the country’s debt, Bloomberg reported late on Thursday quoting sources.

“The U.S. and U.K. are weighing additional penalties against Russia over the use of chemical weapons, with options ranging from sanctions against oligarchs to the extreme step of targeting the nation’s sovereign debt, according to the people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg reported.

“British officials plan to push for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to continue to pressure Russia to provide answers over its use of banned substances, and will raise potential measures with key European allies, including France and Germany, in the coming weeks.”

Also on Thursday, 40 U.S. Republican senators signed a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden asking him not to delay sanctions against the companies building the Nord Stream-2 natural gas pipeline, as seen by PRIME in a letter published on the website of one of the authors of the initiative, Senator John Barrasso.

“We write to express our deep concern about the refusal of the administration to impose sanctions on entities involved in the Nord Stream II pipeline. With construction on the project currently taking place, there is publicly available information on vessels and companies engaging in sanctionable activities,” the letter read.

“We call on the administration to correct its misguided actions by quickly and fully implementing the sanctions mandated by U.S. law.”

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