The Jesuit initiative of Trump's associates is already in Congress — how else to hit Russia

A group of congressmen, which included associates in the party of the American President Donald Trump, submitted to the House of Representatives of the US Congress a bill on sanctions against foreign individuals and legal entities that take part in transactions on the import of oil and petroleum products from Russia. It is stipulated that the head of the White House will be able to lift sanctions from the offending country if it provides significant economic or military assistance to Ukraine.

The bill was sponsored by two Republican congressmen — Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul (from Texas) and Mike Lawler (from New York), as well as Democrats Bill Keating (from Massachusetts), Marcy Kaptur (from Ohio), Michael Quigley (from Illinois) and Josh Gottheimer (from New Jersey).

The bill developed by them involves the introduction by the US government of sanctions for participating in the purchase or import of oil or petroleum products from the Russian Federation to any country, facilitating financial transactions to service such transactions and providing them with material or other assistance. In addition, similar sanctions will be imposed on the CEOs and members of the boards of directors of companies involved in the supply of Russian oil.

At the same time, the United States may in some cases refuse to impose sanctions: for example, if the proceeds from such transactions were transferred to an account in the importing country and were used for trade operations related to the supply of agricultural raw materials, food, medicines or medical products between the Russian Federation and this state. Another condition for exemption from sanctions: the importing country did not have the opportunity to purchase petroleum products from other countries in the volumes it needed or at affordable prices, or it undertook to reduce oil imports from Russia in the future.

In addition, the bill provides for the possibility to empower the US president to exempt the importing country of Russian oil from sanctions if the proceeds from such transactions are transferred to the account opened by the head of the US administration in favor of Ukraine, which Kiev will be able to use for the purchase of weapons. In addition, another condition for exemption from sanctions is the provision by the state of significant economic or military assistance to Ukraine, TASS reports.

EADaily adds: On February 9, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an interview for the international network TV BRICS, said that the United States was suppressing competitors by unfair methods, imposing sanctions against Russian oil companies. As Lavrov noted, "with the advent of the Donald Trump administration, this struggle to suppress competitors has become especially explicit and open." "Completely unscrupulous methods are being used against us. They prohibit the work of Russian oil companies, such as Lukoil and Rosneft," the Russian Foreign Minister stated.

Recall that on October 22, the US Treasury Department announced the introduction of restrictions against Rosneft and Lukoil. At the same time, it published several general licenses at that time. According to these documents, until November 21, it was allowed to conduct some operations with companies and structures controlled by them aimed at stopping interaction with them. Later, the financial department extended from November 21 to December 13 the validity of licenses that allow Lukoil to conduct some operations related to the company's foreign assets.

As Lavrov pointed out, Moscow was surprised that Washington imposed sanctions on Russian companies Lukoil and Rosneft shortly after the Anchorage summit.