The US and Russia political war is going strong with the relationship between the two nations being at its breaking point. The US has now announced sanctions against Russia in response to cyber-attacks and other attempts to harm the US. According to the White House, the sanctions aim to deter “Russia’s harmful foreign activities”.
To make matters worse Russia has no qualms about flexing its new research and progress on military weapons. The sanctions target dozens of Russian entities and officials. They were announced on Thursday and are detailed in an executive order signed by President Joe Biden.
The sanctions also include a statement blaming the Russian Intelligence for last year’s ‘SolarWinds’ hack. They also accused Moscow of interfering in the 2020 elections. President Biden told the reports that “I was clear with President Putin that we could have gone further, but I chose not to do so. The United States is not looking to kick off a cycle of escalation and conflict with Russia.”
It is clear that the US held back on the sanctions to make way for dialogue and diplomacy. Its aim is to impose costs on Russia in a strategic and economically impactful way. In order to stop Russia from its efforts to continue destabilizing the international platforms.
The sanctions target at least 32 entities and officials that tried to interfere with the 2020 elections. Ten diplomats have been expelled and a ban has been placed on the purchasing of ruble-denominated bonds effective from June.
Russia has since denied all allegations and says that it will respond to the US sanctions in kind. The Russian foreign ministry called the sanctions “hostile steps which dangerously raise the temperature of confrontation”. They further added that “Such aggressive conduct will, of course, get a decisive response”.