WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama intends to sign legislation that imposes further sanctions on Russia, and provide additional aid to Ukraine, the White House announced Tuesday.
Despite reservations, Obama wants to sign the bill into law, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.
“This obviously is a rather public airing of other elements of our strategy that we would prefer not to have,” he said. “That said, because it does preserve the president's flexibility to carry out the strategy, he does intend to sign the bill.”
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki added that the legislation sends a mixed message to America's allies who have worked alongside the U.S. to impose sanctions.
"While this legislation appropriately preserves the flexibility of time and calibrates sanctions with our international partners, it does send a confusing message to our allies by appearing to move forward on new sanctions outside of our close consultations with them," she said.
In addition to requiring Obama to slap at least three sanctions on Russia-owned arms firms or related entities, including the state-owned weapons exporter firm Rosoboronexport, or investors in any Russian crude oil project, the bill gives Obama the authority to provide lethal and nonlethal military assistance to the Ukrainian government.
But it adds that the president can waive the sanctions requirement if he determines that doing so is in the U.S.'s national security interests.
Earnest said that he expects the bill, approved by Congress on Saturday, to be signed by the end of the week.
The announcement comes as the Russian economy continues its downward spiral, with the ruble hitting an historic low Tuesday, falling by as much as 20 percent during the day.
Russia’s central bank made a panicked effort to stop the free-fall Tuesday night, spiking the interest rate from 10.5 percent to 17 percent. The ruble is down more than 60 percent since the beginning of the year.
Earnest said that the move is "an indication that the bite on the Russian economy is only becoming stronger."
"Ultimately, though, it will be up to President (Vladimir) Putin to decide whether or not the economic costs are worth it to him and are worth it to the Russian people," he added.
Jason Furman, the chairman of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, said that the Russian economy is “on the brink of crisis.”
“If I was chairman of President Putin's Council of Economic Advisers, I would be extremely concerned. They are between a rock and a hard place in economic policy,” he said at the White House. “They are facing a very serious economic situation and it's a serious economic situation that is largely of their own making and largely reflects the consequences of not following a set of international rules.”
The U.S. and its European allies have imposed a series of sanctions on Russia’s economy and key figures in response to the country’s actions in Ukraine, including the annexation of Crimea in March.
Russia’s heavily oil-dependent economy has also been dealt a succession of blows by marked decreases in crude oil prices. The average price of a barrel of oil dipped below $56 Tuesday – the lowest since May 2009.
Furman brushed off concerns that sanctions could backfire on the U.S. economy, saying that imports from Russia constitute only a tenth of a percent of the GDP.
www.aa.com.tr/en
