An overwhelming vote by the US House of Representatives to slap tough new sanctions on Moscow is a "serious step" towards wrecking chances of improving ties, Russia's deputy foreign minister said today. "The authors and sponsors of this bill are taking a very serious step towards destroying the possibilities for normalising relations with Russia." The sanctions package -- which also contains measures aimed at Iran and North Korea -- passed 419 to three on Tuesday after weeks of negotiations. If Trump does sign off on the bill then Russia looks likely to retaliate, with Ryabkov insisting Moscow has warned Washington "dozens of times" that any new sanctions would "not go unanswered." Ties between Russia and the US plummeted to their lowest point since the Cold War after the Kremlin's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 saw Washington impose sanctions on Moscow.

Source: dna July 26, 2017 07:52 UTC