U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill imposing strict sanctions against Russia
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill imposing strict sanctions against Russia

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill imposing strict sanctions against Russia. Initiated measures is known as “Sanctions from Hell”. The document also refers to Georgia and Ukraine.

The vote was 17-5 to advance the bill in the Republican-controlled committee. All five “no” votes came from Republicans, including the chairman, Senator Jim Risch.

The legislation must pass the full Senate and House of Representatives before it can be sent for President Donald Trump to sign into law or veto.

The measure advanced on Wednesday, titled the Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act and known as DASKA, was introduced in February by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the foreign relations panel. Graham dubbed DASKA the sanctions bill “from hell” because it would impose strict and broad penalties.

Targets of DASKA sanctions would include: Russian banks that support efforts to interfere in foreign elections; the country’s cyber sector and new sovereign debt. It also would impose measures on Russia’s oil and gas sector.

Lawmakers, have been pushing the president to take a harder stance against Russia over election interference, aggression toward Ukraine and involvement in Syria’s civil war.

According to the document, the US president should publicly call on Russia to return Crimea to Ukraine, stop supporting the violence in eastern Ukraine, to end occupation and support of Russian-led forces on the territories of Georgia and Moldova.