President of the United States Donald Trump extended the ban on funding Washington for cultural and educational exchanges with a number of countries, including Russia. The relevant memorandum to the head of the State Department Rex Tillerson was distributed by the White House. The United States will not provide "non-humanitarian and non-trade-related assistance or allow funding to participate in educational and cultural exchanges of government officials and government employees in the fiscal year 2018". This does not mean any additional restrictive measures, in particular, denial of entry or prohibition of business contacts. The document has a proviso that cooperation with Moscow in this aspect can be feasible if it affects US interests.

September 30 Trump instructed Tillerson to oversee a series of sanctions against Russia. It's about legislating the sanctions imposed under Barack Obama because of the conflict in Ukraine, and also because of the cyber attacks attributed to Moscow to American political organizations. In addition, the head of the State Department is authorized to take decisions on refusing visas to persons who "damage cybersecurity" on behalf of the Russian government.

Original article: Trump extended the ban on financing educational exchanges with Russia.