AssessmentsFeb 21, 2019 | 10:00 GMT
Sanctions Will Widen the Russia-West Rift in 2019
Five years in, the standoff between Russia and the West shows no signs of abating. On Feb. 13, a group of bipartisan U.S. senators from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee introduced a bill to ramp up sanctions against Russia due to its alleged interference in U.S. elections and its "malign" activities in Ukraine and Syria. In the meantime, reports have emerged that both the United States and European Union are close to passing a new set of sanctions against Russia over the showdown between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the Sea of Azov. The European Union, meanwhile, is also considering its own raft of sanctions. And given that Russia is unlikely to plot a new course in Ukraine or Syria as a result of increased sanctions, the West's measures are only likely to inflame Moscow-West tensions.
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