Republicans gave Russia exactly what it wanted — and Russia’s having a good chuckle about it.
The GOP-controlled Senate rejected legislation this week that would have required the U.S. Treasury Department to keep sanctions on companies linked to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin.
The move is a major win for Putin, whose economy has been hit hardby U.S.-backed sanctions aimed at punishing Russia for its aggression in Ukraine, its involvement in human rights abuses around the world, and its malicious cyber activities including the 2016 influence operation targeting the U.S. presidential election.
While Democrats had mounted an effort to block Trump’s Treasury Department from lifting sanctions on the Russian companies, Republicans used their majority in the Senate to hand Putin a victory by easing the sanctions.
View the complete January 18 article by Caroline Orr on the ShareBlue.com website here.