The United States took an important step towards expanding sanctions against Russia - on Wednesday they made appropriate amendments to the bill on Iran, and the next day they supported it in the Senate. Next: a vote in the House of Representatives, as well as the signature / veto of President Donald Trump. The chances for passing the document are quite high: Judging by the rhetoric of the members of the Congress, bipartisan agreement has been reached, and it is extremely dangerous for the head of the White House to block any anti-Russian initiatives.

If the United States brings the matter to an end, it will be the beginning of a new stage of the sanctions policy in relation to the Russian Federation. Why the blow, the arm for which brings Washington, is not symbolic - the "Observer".

Not deadly, but unpleasant The bill provides for a multi-vector blow to the Russian economy - not fatal and not even critical, but unpleasant. Affected, among other things, the most sensitive sphere for the Russian Federation - energy. This is a complete ban on US companies to participate in Russian oil exploration and production projects in the Arctic shelf, shale formations and deep water.

Another significant, especially for Kiev, point is the opportunity to impose sanctions on those who invest in strengthening the pipeline potential of Russia. Moreover, not only Americans. This is already important from the point of view of construction of gas pipelines bypassing Ukraine, in particular "Nord Stream II". In the bill without equivocation it is written that the States will oppose the implementation of this project. US representatives, for example, ex-Vice President Joe Biden, have previously stated that the pipeline jeopardizes Europe's energy security and energy reforms in Ukraine. Given the party's rhetoric, this point is probably dragged by the Democrats.

According to the bill, you can impose sanctions on those who have once invested in forbidden projects more than $ 1 million, for a year - more than $ 5 million or for those who provided equipment, technologies and services for construction. By the way, on June 2, in St. Petersburg, an interesting agreement on the deficit financing of the "Nord Stream-II".

At the first stage, the most important problem of the Russian economy provoked by Western sanctions was the credit hunger. Despite the partial adaptation of the Russian Federation to the new conditions, further narrowing of the possibilities for lending is a long-term pressure factor. The bill provides for a ban on lending to Russian banks for more than 14 days, and oil and gas companies for more than 30 days. Effective prohibition: not more than 30 and not more than 90 days respectively. Thus, it will become even more difficult for banks and oil and gas companies of the Russian Federation to attract American financing.

Another direction of the strike is the railway and shipping state companies of Russia, which can also be sanctioned. It's about the possible freezing of their assets in American jurisdiction and the ban on US and US legal entities to cooperate with them.

Fuse for Trump The most important aspect of the bill for Ukraine is the complication of the procedure for the removal of US sanctions. Simply put, after the adoption of the document, Donald Trump will no longer be able to cross out sanctions with one stroke of the pen - he will have to ask permission from Congress, which in this matter demonstrates a striking unity. At least for now: what will happen after the re-election of the Congress in the autumn of 2018, it is impossible to forecast.

The idea of ??legislating the US sanctions was born last year in the camp of Democrats and Republican hawks, which are increasingly acting in unison. Actively promote it began in January-February, despite the opposition of the White House and the majority of the ruling party.

But against the backdrop of the next wave of turbulence around Trump, the establishment of the Republican Party gave way, probably preparing the way for a retreat in case the worst scenario for the president. There were no grounds for impeachment, and no. However, the forecasts under the conditional name "Trump does not stay in the chair until the end of the cadence" have for some time ceased to sound insanely, although still - hastily. The problems are multiplying with great speed, largely due to the president himself and with the active assistance of the Democrats. The testimony of the former head of the FBI, James Komi, formed the basis for a special investigation on Trump's obstruction of justice. Along with the state treasury (which in this case is much more difficult to prove), this is one of the reasons for launching the impeachment procedure.

The bipartisan agreement on the legislative consolidation of sanctions demonstrates the level of congressional confidence in the president. Despite the fact that Trump has toughened rhetoric towards Russia, he is still publicly advocating the normalization of bilateral relations. The statement of the former State Department official Dan Fried that in the early days of the trip Trump was seriously going to lift the sanctions, also does not strengthen the belief in the sincerity of the terrible reverence of the head of the White House towards Moscow.

Theoretically, Trump can use the right of veto in the event of passing the bill through the House of Representatives, but by this he will again put himself under an internal political strike. And yet in Congress this option was envisaged and they say that in case they can overcome the veto. For this we need 2/3 of the votes, which is by no means from the category "mission impossible", unless the president succeeds in reaching an agreement with his party. There is some risk that the support of the bill in the Senate was only a political signal of Republicans, addressed to Trump on the eve of a meeting with the head of the Kremlin.

As reported by the "Observer", Vladimir Putin reacted to the bill.

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