The U.S. State Department said Tuesday it has told Congress it will impose additional sanctions on Russia. The State Department says Russia missed a deadline in regard to its chemical weapons use.
The U.S. imposed a wave of sanctions against Russia back in August after its alleged attempt to assassinate an ex-Russian spy in Britain with a military-grade nerve agent earlier this year. Russia denied the accusation.
The U.S. gave Russia a 90-day deadline to prove it no longer uses chemical and biological weapons and to allow U.N. inspectors to check out its facilities. Russia seemingly failed to comply, so a second round of sanctions is mandated in accordance with a 1991 law aimed at stopping the use of those kinds of weapons.
We don't know the details of the new sanctions right now, but the State Department said in September they will be "very severe." In response, a Kremlin spokesperson said Wednesday Russia will consider any new sanctions as "illegal."
