Newly empowered House Democrats called Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, to defend the move to lift sanctions in a classified briefing on Thursday. The goal of the sanctions, which were announced by the Treasury Department in April 2018, was to punish the Russian government and key supporters for the interference in the 2016 election, among other hostile acts. But the department delayed the sanctions against Mr. Deripaska’s companies several times amid an aggressive lobbying and legal campaign funded by EN+. It argued that the sanctions could have unintended negative effects on companies in the United States, Europe, Jamaica, Guinea and elsewhere. In the waning days of the last Congress, the Treasury Department announced that it would lift the sanctions against the companies — but not Mr. Deripaska personally — in exchange for an agreement to reduce his ownership stake and control.

Source: New York Times January 13, 2019 00:00 UTC