US lawmakers mull amendment to impose sanctions on Russia’s debt

MOSCOW, Jul 12 (PRIME) -- Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday introduced an amendment to the country’s 2020 defense budget that encompasses introduction of sanctions against Russia’s sovereign debt if Moscow meddles with U.S. elections, according to the broadcast of the voting process aired by C-Span.

“This amendment provides real serious sanctions on the Russian state by saying ‘no U.S. person can make additional purchases of Russian sovereign debt’. It provides a mechanism for removing these sanctions,” Congressman Brad Sherman said introducing the amendment.

“If the administration concludes that Russia can go one election cycle without interfering and if the Congress agrees with that conclusion then these sanctions are lifted,” he said.

Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian parliament’s upper house Federation Council, told PRIME that Russia would retaliate with mirror measures if the U.S. imposes sanctions on the country’s sovereign debt.

“This is not a final decision, the amendment to the U.S. budget is yet to be approved, it is to undergo the process of coordination. But if they make such a decision against Russia’s sovereign debt, I think that Russia will retaliate with mirror measures,” Dzhabarov said.

“The Americans have an illusion that they only have to say the word ‘sanctions’ and Russia starts shaking. This is nonsense, almost no one even knows about these sanctions here already,” he said, adding that the actions of the U.S. government directly contradict statements of President Donald Trump, who often says that the two states should improve their relations.

Head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (AmCham) Alexis Rodzyanko told PRIME that the sanctions were unlikely to be introduced, as they first have to pass the upper chamber of the U.S. parliament and be signed by Trump, and then the elections meddling has to happen after that.

Nevertheless, the sanctions would hurt the U.S. investors in the first place, as they account for a significant share of owners of Russia’s state debt.

“I think that this piece of news will not have a direct impact on the markets, as thoughts and ideas like that have been floating in the air for a long time. Even now they were imposed in a half-cut state that even has to be coordinated first, so this won’t lead to a noticeable change in the situation that we have right now,” Rodzyanko said.

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