WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Monday it would not immediately impose additional sanctions on Russia, despite a new law designed to punish Moscow’s alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, insisting the measure was already hitting Russian companies. “Today, we have informed Congress that this legislation and its implementation are deterring Russian defense sales,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. But citing long time frames associated with major defense deals, Nauert said it was better to wait to impose those sanctions. Monday’s deadline to release those reports was seen as a test of Trump’s willingness to clamp down on Russia. Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, one of the main congressional architects of the sanctions law, said he was not concerned that the administration did not announce sanctions by Monday’s deadline.

Source: Huffington Post January 30, 2018 00:22 UTC