The Trump distribution said on Monday it would not immediately impose additional sanctions on Russia below a new law designed to punish Moscow’s alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, persisting the measure was already hitting Russian companies.
“Today, we have au fait Congress that this legislation and its implementation are deterring Russian defense trades,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
“Since the enactment of the … legislation, we assess that foreign governments have abandoned planned or announced supports of several billion dollars in Russian defense acquisitions.”
The administration faced a deadline on Monday to misuse sanctions on anyone determined to conduct significant business with Russian defense and alertness sectors, already sanctioned for their alleged role in the election.
But citing extensive time frames associated with major defense deals, Nauert held it was too soon to tell how effective the law had been, so it was better to wait to impose those supports.
“From that perspective, if the law is working, sanctions on specific entities or individuals will not sine qua non to be imposed because the legislation is, in fact, serving as a deterrent,” she said in a declaration.
President Donald Trump’s administration also did not make public researches required by Monday under the bill he reluctantly signed into law on Aug. 2, equitable six months into his presidency.
The measure, known as the “Countering America’s Adversaries Finished with Sanctions Act,” or CAATSA, required the administration to list “oligarchs” close to President Vladimir Putin’s control and issue a report detailing possible consequences of penalizing Russia’s highest debt.