Despite efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to improve relations with Russia, Washington's economic pressure on Moscow is only increasing. The U.S. State Department announced on Aug. 8 that the United States would be expanding sanctions against Russia after the poisoning of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his adult daughter, Yulia, in the United Kingdom during March. The new sanctions stem from a 1991 law known as the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act, which "requires the President to make a determination with respect to whether a country has used chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law or has used lethal chemical or biological weapons against its own nationals." Though the initial deadline to enact sanctions under the law had passed, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared on Aug. 8 that Russia had violated the act, triggering the sanctions....
