The US Congress decided to tighten sanctions against Russia due to Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election and issues related to Ukraine and Syria. The new sanctions target Russia’s oil partnership with companies in the US, Germany and several other countries. The US administration will now need congressional approval to lift any sanctions on Russia.

Heated disputes

The Russian-US relationship reached its lowest point since the Cold War after Crimea was annexed to Russia in March, 2014 and the US and the EU imposed sanctions on Russia. President Donald Trump was expected to revive the ties. During his campaign, he proposed recognizing Crimea as part of Russia and lifting sanctions on Russia in exchange for Moscow’s cooperation against IS, North Korea and others. President Putin revealed a readiness to establish a fresh dialogue with the US.

But no improvement has yet been seen due to accusations of Russian interference in the US election and Moscow’s extension of its ban on agricultural imports from the US until the end of next year. The dispute became more heated when a US-led alliance shot down Syrian warplanes and Russia shut down a hotline created to prevent accidental clashes in the Syrian airspace. North Korea’s missile test on July 4^th cast another shadow on Russia-US ties. The two countries have bickered over the US’s deployment of its Terminal High Altitude Anti-Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea.

To thaw the ice, President Trump and President Putin met in Hamburg on July 8^th on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. Both Russian and US officials expressed satisfaction with that meeting.

Recoding target

But President Trump is hampered in his obvious campaign to warm up the US-Russia ties because of the US system of “checks and balances”. President Trump cannot run counter to the Republican Party which supports sanctions against Russia. Trump is expected to sign the new sanctions bill in the next few days.

Experts in Russia and other European countries warn of a worsening relationship between Washington and Moscow if Trump signs the bill. Leonid Slutsky, Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said the expanded restrictions undermine the possibility of restoring Russian-American relations and complicate them even more for the foreseeable future.