July 28, 2017 Senate the absolute majority (98 votes out of 100) adopted the law on new sanctions against Russia in connection with its intervention in the US presidential election.
Week Donald trump has put his signature under the document. From that moment began the countdown — 180 days on approval of the list of high-ranking officials and oligarchs within Putin’s inner circle.
And here 29 Jan the last day for approval of the so-called «the Kremlin report» The U.S. Treasury provided a list of 210 people (104 political figures and 96 Russian businessmen), strangely coincident with the rating of the richest people in Russia according to the Forbes for the year 2017.
ACCORDING to the Swedish expert at the Atlantic Council Anders Aslund such «coincidence» is no accident. Aslund claims that in the last moment someone of high-ranking officials threw a six-month work of the Ministry of Finance, the Director of N. I., the Secretary of state and other experts.
This «someone» replaced the original report by Forbes, therefore, ridiculed governmental experts and highlighting the ineffectiveness of sanctions.
But so far (and the Ministry of Finance emphasizes) list only offers a review of the people, which can be sanctioned. Many in Congress, especially the representatives of the democratic forces, outraged by the result of the work of the government and insist on the adoption of sanctions against Russian representatives.
The leader of the Democrats in the Senate Chuck Schumer convinced that trump is too soft towards Russia and can not rebuff Putin. And the Congressman Eliot Engel outraged that the administration does not «take tough action against those responsible for the attack on American democracy in 2016».
