POLITICO Pro President will sign Russia sanctions bill

President Barack Obama will sign a bipartisan bill that ratchets up sanctions on Russia by targeting the country’s energy, defense and financial sectors, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a press briefing today.

The legislation authorizes the president to provide $350 million over the next three years in military assistance to Ukraine, including defense equipment, services and training aimed at helping the country re-establish its sovereignty and territorial integrity.


Pressure had been building around the White House this week to sign the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014.

The bill was introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the panel’s ranking member, during Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s visit to the United States in September.

The Senate approved the bill by a voice vote on Thursday, but had to vote again for technical reasons after the House approved the legislation. Final approval came late Saturday.

“On behalf of the people’s House, I urge President Obama to sign this bipartisan legislation,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement issued Monday, noting the measure was unanimously approved by both chambers.

Like many members of Congress, the administration remains deeply concerned about the aggressive actions of Russia in Ukraine, including the occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea and support to separatists in eastern Ukraine, a senior administration official said.

“It is also important that our sanctions regime strikes a delicate balance that maintains a united front with allies and partners, optimizes costs on Russia, and minimizes the impact on American business, international oil markets and the global economy. We will be evaluating whether the amended legislation enables us to sustain this important approach,” the official said.

“This legislation sends a very direct message to President [Vladimir] Putin, who must change his calculus in Ukraine and abandon this disruptive path,” Menendez said in a statement. “The territorial integrity of Ukraine must be restored and President Putin must understand that his destabilizing actions have serious and profound consequences for his country.”

“The hesitant U.S. response to Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine threatens to escalate this conflict even further,” Corker added. “Unanimous support for our bill demonstrates a firm commitment to Ukrainian sovereignty and to making sure Putin pays for his assault on freedom and security in Europe.”

Reps. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.) and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), and other members of the bipartisan Congressional Ukrainian Caucus were a driving force behind the bill in the House.

U.S. companies earlier expressed concern about the legislation but welcomed changes that preserve White House flexibility in imposing the new measures.

“We regret that Congress has legislated additional U.S. sanctions against Russia, which will impede the administration’s ability to calibrate sanctions as part of the U.S.-EU effort to change Russia’s conduct in Ukraine,” Richard Sawaya, vice president of USA*Engage, a business group opposed to unilateral U.S. sanctions, said in a statement. “Adding more sanctions perforce will put U.S. businesses with operations and strategic investments in Russia across multiple sectors at further risk, whatever the outcome in Ukraine.”

The legislation requires Obama to apply sanctions against Russian defense firms, including specifically Rosoboronexport, that are contributing to instability in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Syria.

It also authorizes the president to prohibit U.S. persons from investing in or purchasing significant amounts of Gazprom equity or debt, and to impose one additional sanction on Gazprom, the country’s large natural gas company, if he determines that that the company is withholding significant amounts of natural gas from NATO members or countries such as Ukraine, Moldova or Georgia.

Another provision authorizes restrictions on foreign financial institutions’ dealings with the United States banking system if they have engaged in significant sanctionable transactions related to Russia’s defense and energy sectors or substantial transactions on behalf of any Russian individual or entity sanctioned in connection with the crisis in Ukraine.

Approved military defense items for Ukraine include anti-tank and anti-armor weapons; crew weapons and ammunition; radars that identify and target artillery batteries; fire control, range finder and optical and guidance and control equipment; tactical troop-operated surveillance drones; and secure command and communications equipment.

The bill requires the administration to develop a plan for how the United States, other governments and international organizations will help Ukraine protect and assist those displaced by the fighting.

It also directs the administration to work with Ukraine to develop a short-term emergency energy assistance plan that will help the country address a potential fuel and electricity shortage in 2014-15 as well as a longer-term plan to improve Ukraine’s energy security.

In another area, the bill calls on the president to submit a strategy to Congress that outlines U.S. efforts to strengthen Ukrainian civil society, support independent media, reduce corruption and increase election-monitoring capacity, in addition to authorizing $20 million in fiscal 2016 to support those activities.

The legislation encourages the president to assist entities in the Ukrainian defense sector to reorient exports away from customers in Russia and to find appropriate alternative markets for their products.

The bill authorizes $10 million from fiscal 2016 through 2018 to counter Russian propaganda in the former Soviet Union countries, and it prioritizes Russian-language broadcasting into Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. It also authorizes $20 million over the same period for pro-democracy and anti-corruption efforts in Russia.