WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department on Friday moved belatedly to implement a sanctions law President Donald Trump had resisted, publishing a list of toxic Russian companies and warning third parties they’re at risk of tough U.S. financial penalties should they do business with any of them.
The guidance includes more than three dozen entities, including arms trader Rosoboronexport and missile manufacturer Almaz-Antey, that sell weapons and aircraft to U.S. allies in the Middle East and eastern Europe. But the State Department said the standard for imposing sanctions is flexible and the impact to U.S. national security of a particular arms deal would be weighed first.
“We’ll talk to partners and allies about where we find transactions that may be problematic,” a senior department official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the law’s implementation.
The sanctions law was Congress’ response to Moscow’s meddling in the U.S. presidential election last year and its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria. U.S. officials said Russia’s leading spy agencies, the GRU and FSB, were involved in the election interference. The GRU is Russia’s military intelligence agency. The FSB is the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB.
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Associated Press writers Josh Lederman in Washington and James Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report.
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