Trump levies new sanctions on Russia

Politico:

The Trump administration is levying new sanctions on Russia it hopes will force it to comply with a Cold War-era nuclear arms treaty it has violated by deploying a banned cruise missile, according to a senior administration official.

The Commerce Department will punish Russian companies that have provided technology to help develop the new weapon, which was outlawed by the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty signed by the United States and then-Soviet Union in 1987.

The pact banned missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, which when deployed on Europe's periphery were seen as highly destabilizing because they would provide little advance notice of attack — and could carry a nuclear warhead.

The administration’s decision, outlined to reporters on Friday, was made after a lengthy review undertaken by the National Security Council, the administration official said.

The goal, the official said, is to signal to Russia that the Trump administration will take treaty violations seriously and to “change the economic calculus” of Putin’s government.
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The violations were first noted by the Obama administration in 2014.  The Russians deny the breach but the evidence is pretty overwhelming.  The Russians also claim the missile defense installations in Europe are a breach of the treaty, but the US says those missiles were never a part of the treaty.

It looks like the Russians think they need to cheat.  It seems to be part of the character of the current government as demonstrated by the recent sanctions by the Olympic Committee over the use of performance-enhancing drugs allegedly used by the Russians in the last Winter Olympics.

The sanctions are also a blow to the Democrats who have been trying to make the bogus case that Trump colluded with teh Russians to win teh election.