Russia slapped with more sanctions over novichok attack on former spy Sergei Skripal
- The Salisbury attack, the first offensive use of chemical weapons in Europe since World War Two, caused an international outcry
- The US will also limit the export of goods and technology to Russia that could be used in the country’s chemical and biological arms programmes
A new round of sanctions were imposed on Moscow on Saturday by the United States over the 2018 poisoning of former double-agent Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom.
Russian spies have been blamed for the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury in March last year using the Soviet-developed nerve agent novichok.
The two survived the attack but a British woman later died after her partner picked up a discarded perfume bottle investigators believe was used to carry the novichok.
Washington said Saturday it will oppose “the extension of any loan or financial or technical assistance to Russia” by international financial institutions and put limits on US banks from purchasing Russian sovereign debt, US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.
The US will also limit the export of goods and technology to Russia that could be used in the country’s chemical and biological arms programmes, Ortagus said.
She added that the measures could prevent Russia from accessing “billions of dollars of bilateral commercial activity with the United States”.