Trump imposes "alternative sanctions" on Russia, i.e. gets rid of them, allowing the sale of restricted items to the FSB and KGB again. I wonder what will come up this with house Republicans who had said they'd revolt of this happened. Trump responds with "I am not easing anything" but I'm easing something.
Quote:
The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday eased economic sanctions on Russia, allowing some cyber-security sales to the Russian Federal Security Service accused of meddling in the U.S. electoral process.
Some Russian officials applauded the move as signaling a thaw in relations with Washington. But several members of Congress decried the move as pandering to Russia and its hacking attempts. The Trump administration, meanwhile, denied any easing of sanctions, describing the changes as routine tweaking of complicated policy.
The move by Treasury makes changes to sanctions initially imposed by President Obama in April 2015 and strengthened again in December, in reaction to alleged "malicious cyber-enabled activities" by Russia's security service, known as the FSB, in the U.S. electoral process.
The changes by the Office of Foreign Assets Control cover "all transactions and activities" involving the FSB, the successor to the KGB, that were banned by Obama's executive orders. It specifically eases the ban on sales of information technology products to the FSB.
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2...medium=twitter