Washington does not want to introduce more severe anti-Russian sanctions
Sanctions will remain an instrument of American policy towards Russia, but they will be combined with political dialogue.
Tom Graham, chief fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and former special assistant for Russia to President Bush Jr., stated this in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The publication asked how high the likelihood of new tough American sanctions against the Russian Federation is, and whether those who believe that the stock of measures that the United States can use against Moscow without causing significant damage to its own interests are already exhausted are right.
“Washington is really not eager to impose more severe sanctions against Russia. And part of this, as you pointed out, is the possible negative impact of these sanctions on America's broader interests, including its relations with its allies. Take, for example, the recent decision on Nord Stream 2,” the expert said.
“But sanctions will remain an instrument of American policy towards Russia. New sanctions will be imposed if the Biden administration determines that the level of threat from Moscow to American interests increases. But it is likely that the Biden team will use more finely targeted sanctions and pair them with more robust diplomatic dialogue with Russia to persuade Moscow to change its behavior abroad to make it more acceptable to American interests,” Graham added.
Washington is reluctant to impose harsher anti-Russian sanctions.