PREVIEW - Pompeo To Meet British Foreign Secretary As US Threatens More Anti-Russia Sanctions

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd August, 2018) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will reportedly meet his UK counterpart Jeremy Hunt on Wednesday a day after the British Foreign Secretary called for unity in enforcing anti-Russia sanctions and US Treasury officials threatened to impose more penalties on Moscow over the Skripal affair, among other issues.

Hunt is supposed to meet with Pompeo Wednesday morning at the State Department, Politico reported on Tuesday.

In his first trip to Washington in his capacity as UK Foreign Secretary, Hunt on Tuesday called for tougher sanctions on Russia from the international community in response to the nerve gas attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England.

"Today the United Kingdom asks its allies to go further by calling on the European Union to ensure its sanctions against Russia are comprehensive and that we truly stand shoulder to shoulder with the US," Hunt said at the US Institute of Peace on Tuesday. "This means calling out and responding to transgressions with one voice wherever and whenever they occur, from the streets of Salisbury to the heart of Crimea."

Also on Tuesday, US Assistant Treasury Secretary of Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea said during testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the United States may introduce new sanctions against Russia over the Skripal case and North Korea slave labor violations.

This came on the same day that Treasury unveiled sanctions related to Russian fuel shipments to North Korea and cyber activities.

Hunt's message on Russia contrasts with the statement by US President Donald Trump who said on Monday that the White House may consider lifting sanctions on Russia in exchange for cooperation on Ukraine and Syria.

"I would consider it if they do something that would be good for us. But I wouldnt consider it without that," Trump said in an interview. "We have a lot of things we can do good for each other. You have Syria. You have Ukraine. You have many other things."

Hunt will also meet with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House adviser Jared Kushner on Wednesday, according to Politico.

On August 8, the Trump administration announced new Skripal-related sanctions against Russia, the first round of which is expected to take effect on Wednesday. The second round will be imposed three months later unless Russia agrees to chemical weapons inspections, according to the State Department.

On March 4, Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench at a shopping center in Salisbury. The United Kingdom and its allies have accused Moscow of having orchestrated the attack with what UK experts claim was the A234 nerve agent, albeit without presenting any proof. The Kremlin has said numerous times that it did not have any connection to the nerve agent attack and has pointed to the lack of evidence and Londons refusal to cooperate in an objective probe.