Monday was the deadline for the State Department and Treasury to comply with two provisions of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which President Donald Trump grudgingly signed last year. US lawmakers had been worried that, in his eagerness to mend ties with Putin, Trump might not take tough action to punish Moscow and Russian officials for interfering in US elections and destabilizing Ukraine. It did so in October but on Monday was supposed to announce which US or foreign firms or governments would face sanctions for dealing with the blacklisted Russian security sector entities. None of them, it turned out, as the State Department has determined that the mere threat of US action or secondary sanctions had deterred such transactions. This list too was due on January 29, but there was no sign of it as dusk fell on Washington late Monday.

Source: Manila Times January 30, 2018 03:56 UTC