US 'mother of all sanctions' against Russia hit a snag

A bipartisan group in the US Senate says they are working on the most unprecedented sanctions against Russia but legislation is hitting final sticking points.

The senators involved in the negotiations said on Tuesday they have identified two unresolved areas. First, the proposed sanctions related to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will carry gas from Russia to Germany, and the second is the timing of when the sanctions would be activated.  

Republicans are eager to impose sanctions on Russia before it invades Ukraine. Moscow has rejected the allegation that it is preparing to attack its neighbor. 

"We are in the midst of finalizing two pockets of things — one is Nord Stream 2 related sanctions and pre-invasion sanctions, and we keep working to fine tune that to get to common ground. I think we can and will," said Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) added that there was "still some disagreement over timing" but "a lot of consensus" on the "scale and scope" of the legislation.

The Republican senator said a "central issue" remains whether sanctions would be implemented "as a result of some specific action," like a military incursion into Ukraine, and added that Democrats had apparently not moved on applying immediate penalties over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Menendez said that if Russia invaded Ukraine it would face “the mother of all sanctions.”

“[President Vladimir] Putin will not stop if he believes the West will not respond,” Menendez said. 

Menendez previously introduced legislation that would impose sanctions against Russia if President Joe Biden determined Moscow had invaded or had a significant “escalation of hostilities” against Kiev.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline has also been a bone of contention between Republicans and Democrats. Senate Democrats recently blocked legislation from Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that would have imposed penalties on businesses related to the pipeline and allow Congress force a vote on reinstating the penalties if Biden waived them. 

"It's 95 percent done, but it's always the last 5 percent that are the toughest. I think there's still questions about the Nord Stream 2 language and the balance of sanctions applied immediately versus sanctions to be applied after an invasion," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has been involved in the talks.

Murphy added that he agreed with the Biden administration that the deal should "load up the sanctions" to kick in if Russia attacks Ukraine, but that he believed "some small amount of sanction applied today."

US and UK say they're preparing sanctions on Russians with links to Putin government

The United States and the United Kingdom say they are preparing sanctions on Russians with links to the government.

The sanctions include actions against Russian banks that could severely undermine the Russian economy and increased lethal aid to Ukraine’s military, the Associated Press reported, citing the American senator.

A New York Times report has warned that the sanctions that Americans are mulling against Russia over the Ukraine crisis could lead to high inflation and other forms of economic recession that would affect not only Russia but the entire global financial system.

The “swift and severe” response that the US officials have warned in the event of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “could roil major economies, particularly those in Europe, and even threaten the stability of the global financial system,” the Times reported on Sunday, citing analysts.

The latest announcement of sanctions from the Biden administration comes in an environment of massively heightened tensions, an intensive US anti-Russian propaganda campaign, and deployment of forces and equipment throughout most of the former Warsaw Pact nations and three former Soviet republics that have joined NATO, with at least two others (Georgia and Ukraine) not yet admitted as formal members but who are involved in military cooperation, including hosting military assets, with the US and NATO.

There have also been reciprocal dismissals and departures of senior diplomatic personnel and, most recently, an immediate threat of termination of diplomatic relations.

The United States claims that Russia has been deploying thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine to attack the country. Moscow has rejected the allegations and said the military build-up is defensive.

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