Recently, the United States introduced a new package of anti-Russian sanctions in response to Russia cyber attacks on the servers of the Democratic party on the eve of the presidential election. In addition to the existing sanctions against Russia the new restrictive measures by the Ministry of Finance of the USA extend to six individuals and five institutions, including the Federal security service (FSB), Main intelligence Directorate (GRU). The White house declared persona non grata 35 Russian diplomats who were expelled from the United States. Announced the closure of diplomatic missions of the Russian Federation in the cities of Maryland and new York, which could be used by Russian secret services for intelligence purposes. The Kremlin decided not to take proportionate measures and not to send the same number of American diplomats to the inauguration of newly elected U.S. President Donald trump.
Trump against the new sanctions
Supporters of Donald trump believe that the new package of sanctions against Russia were introduced with the expectation to complicate us-Russian relations and to remove from the agenda the issue of normalization of relations with Russia. Donald trump is convinced that the Russian involvement in the hacking of the servers of the Democratic party is ambiguous and it could be the handiwork of any other state. Advisor to Donald trump, Kelliann Conway believes that the new sanctions are an intentional step in the administration Democrats to restrict the freedom of action of Donald trump.
New sanctions are not beneficial for the part of the Republicans, who are planning a rapprochement with Russia. According to the German newspaper Bild, former U.S. Secretary of state Henry Kissinger prepared the ground for the rapprochement between Washington and Moscow. Doesn’t he go to Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin admits the possibility of preservation of the Crimea as part of Russia and the abolition of anti-Russian sanctions in exchange for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Donbass and the normalization of relations with the United States.
Against anti-sanctions advocates oil company ExxonMobil, which is due to anti-Russian sanctions to have lost $ 1 billion. The Americans have done with Rosneft projects on Sakhalin island, in the Kara and Black seas, in Eastern Siberia. Rex Tillerson, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of ExxonMobil, is the candidate for the post of Secretary of state. American businessmen do not see a threat in Russia for US national security. It is important for them to protect their commercial interests in Russia.
The argument for new sanctions
However, in both houses of Congress there is bipartisan support a new package of anti-Russian sanctions. New sanctions against Russia are fully justified from the point of view of the legal framework of the United States, namely the provisions of the national security Strategy last revised. This is the basic document that reglamentary threat to U.S. national security and measures for their suppression. The national security strategy are traditionally guided by the ruling elite of the United States, taking foreign policy decisions.
According to the document, the threat to the territorial integrity of States is the growing number of cyber attacks in the world. During the reign of Barack Obama’s cyberspace, States have shown their vulnerability. Australian journalist and hacker Julian Assange was published in the media secret documents about U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, the civil war in Syria. Former CIA and NSA Edward Snowden gave the media information about total surveillance of U.S. intelligence for the information communications between the citizens of different countries due to the existing means of communication and the Internet. The national security strategy of the US puts cyber attacks in a row with such threats to sovereignty, international terrorism, military aggression. According to the strategy, a special role is given to US intelligence in the identification of threats. As countermeasures, the paper proposes not only a military force but also economic sanctions.
From the point of view of the provisions of the national security Strategy, a hacker attack of Russia on the servers of the Democratic party can be seen as a violation of the sovereignty of the United States. It was an act of aggression by one state against another in cyberspace. Therefore, introduced by the democratic administration sanctions are fully consistent with the nature of the threats spelled out in the national security Strategy. Moreover, according to another reference document, National military strategy, Russia is on a par with Iran, North Korea and China is seen as a state which is a threat to the sovereignty of the United States. From a legal point of view, the tightening of anti-Russian sanctions is a necessary measure for the White house in response to Russia’s violation of the sovereignty of States in cyberspace.
The benefits for Ukraine
Ukraine wins from cyber attacks Russia in the United States. The outgoing administration of President Barack Obama made the reason for the tightening and extension of anti-Russian sanctions the violation of the sovereignty of States over cyber attacks Russia. Now Donald Trump would be difficult to argue in Congress want to cancel the anti-sanctions under the pretext that the aggression of Russia in Ukraine does not affect the sovereignty of the United States. Cancel anti-Russian sanctions and normalization of relations between the US and Russia would mean that the White house is willing to sacrifice their own national security in the interests of oil companies.
The U.S. Congress for the defence of the sovereignty of their country to extend the existing anti-Russian sanctions, imposed after Russia’s aggression in Ukraine to keep the pressure on the Kremlin. Do not exclude the tightening of anti-Russian sanctions for the sake of exhaustion of the Russian economy. The senators have prepared a letter to Donald Trump calling for a tough line against Russia in connection with the capture, during hostilities Ukrainian territory.
Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham promised to promote the introduction during 2017 tougher sanctions against Russia. A new package of sanctions will be extended to the energy and banking sector of Russia, directly on Vladimir Putin and his entourage. This is possible even if the President does not approve the initiative. The decision on the extension and tightening of sanctions could be envisaged by the Federal law adopted by 2/3 members of Congress. Congressman Adam Schiff from the Democratic party promised that the U.S. Congress will give Donald Trump a strong response if it does not take into account the opinion of U.S. intelligence about the threat from Russia and try to repeal existing sanctions. The principle “our defense starts at the borders of the opponent” is fully justified in the case of US support for Ukraine’s struggle with Russian aggression.
