06 August, 2017
Trump has conceded that Russian Federation is behind the cyberattacks - as the US intelligence community has concluded - but added that he believes other countries also could be culpable.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday the Republican-led Congress must not allow the White House to "wriggle out of its duty to impose these sanctions for Russia's brazen assault on our democracy".
Reiterating Moscow's official stance, he said: "We, in general, believe that this policy of sanctions is short-sighted, unlawful and hopeless".
Enactment of the legislation, which cements into law an array of strong sanctions against Russian Federation for its alleged election meddling and aggression in Ukraine, dashes hopes of any immediate improvement in relations between Moscow and Washington as espoused by Mr. Trump during his campaign.
"I guarantee you there were phone calls in addition to those emails, and I want to hear all of it before I answer the question you put to me", Risch said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry says Moscow reserves the right to take further retaliatory measures in response to a sanctions bill signed by President Donald Trump.
The worsening of ties could manifest itself in even more sanctions in the future, as well as closer USA relations with other nations in the region, Gardiner said.
It represents the will of the American people to see Russian Federation take steps to improve relations with the United States.
US President Donald Trump claimed relations with Russian Federation had hit an all-time and very unsafe low yesterday, putting the blame on Congress after he reluctantly approved sanctions against Moscow.
The Russian rouble weakened slightly following the initial report that Mr. Trump had signed the Bill.
On Capitol Hill on Thursday, senators were confused and irritated at the president's finger-pointing, noting that the sanctions bill passed by a large, veto-proof margin on a bipartisan basis and was signed by President Trump himself.
"It will be some time before there is any thaw in the U.S. -Russia relationship", West said.
"The president wasn't happy with the new sanctions, but he had to sign the bill". We have made progress and improved the language to give the Treasury Department greater flexibility in granting routine licenses to American businesses, people, and companies.
After it, Moscow called the sanctions a declaration of economic war that had exposed the US President's weakness as Trump lashed out at his own lawmakers who had overwhelmingly approved the measures.
"The passage of the new law on sanctions shows with all obviousness that relations with Russia have become hostage to the domestic political battle within the United States", Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry said, adding that "the latest events show that in well-known circles in the United States, Russophobia and a course toward open confrontation with our country have taken hold".
The U.S. Congress voted last week by overwhelming margins for sanctions to punish the Russian government over interference in the 2016 presidential election, annexation of Crimea and other perceived violations of worldwide norms.
Mahaffee said that while both nations will continue to cooperate on some necessary counterterrorism measures, the United States also has a very different definition of counterterrorism efforts in Syria, compared to Russian Federation.
