Amendments Introducing US Sanctions On Russian State Debt Unlikely To Become Law - AmCham

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th July, 2019) Proposed amendments to the US defense budget, introducing sanctions against Russia's state debt, are unlikely to be signed into law, but if they are, the restrictions will hit US investors above all, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (AmCham) Alexis Rodzianko told Sputnik on Friday.

His comment came soon after the US House of Representatives passed an amendment to the 2020 defense budget, proposed by the Democrats, banning US citizens from conducting any operations with Russia's state debt in the event of Russia's meddling in the upcoming US presidential election. However, this is not the final version of the document, and the amendment is yet to be studied by the Republicans.

"First of all, I believe it is unlikely to become law, because the draft has to be passed in the upper chamber, and this amendment has not been submitted to the upper chamber.

The law should be approved in order to be submitted for signing, which means that the upper chamber has to agree to introduce this amendment in its own version or reject the amendment in the version that the lower chamber proposed. It also has to be signed by the president," Rodzianko said.

"The second thing is that the amendment itself is conditional. Sanctions will be introduced if election meddling take place. Sanctions will not be introduced directly even if the president signs the law," Rodzianko added.

AmCham head voiced the belief that the sanctions, if introduced, would hit not the global markets, but US investors.

"These sanctions will primarily hit US investors who are major holders of these securities. This is not the most desirable result," Rodzianko specified.

The United States has repeatedly accused Russia of election meddling, with Russia refuting the charges as groundless.