Jen Psaki
US President's spokeswoman Jen Psaki announced new restrictions on Moscow. She stated this at a briefing, the broadcast is available on the White House Twitter account.
According to her, in the near future we should expect information from Washington about the introduction of new measures against Russia. “As President [Joe Biden] said last night, surely Russia will be held accountable for its actions. We will tell you more about this soon, ”Psaki promised.
A White House spokeswoman added that Russia has to pay the price. “We are not going to look for other ways, as it has been the last four years [under President Donald Trump], and we will continue to put pressure on them,” she said.
Psaki recalled that the administration is conducting a series of reviews in connection with the hacker attack attributed to Russia through the software firm SolarWinds, as well as media reports about alleged awards for attacks on the US military in Afghanistan.
On March 17, the United States announced new trade sanctions against Russia. New trade sanctions will affect exports related to national security. Until September 1, 2021, there are exceptions: in particular, for items related to aviation, space and items for encryption and software technologies.
These sanctions are a continuation of the restrictive measures introduced in early March. Then, nine companies from Russia fell under the sanctions, three from Germany, and one from Switzerland. The documents said that the sanctions against these organizations were imposed “for proliferation activities in support of the Russian program of weapons of mass destruction.”
Earlier, Biden wanted to hold the Russian state accountable for alleged interference in the US elections. The American leader spoke about his conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and added that he would “pay” if he was found guilty. After that, Russia invited Anatoly Antonov, Ambassador to the United States, to Moscow. This decision was made in order to analyze the prospects for relations with Washington.