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What the April 2018 US sanctions on Russia targeted
Summary
A look back at the US sanctions announced on 6 April 2018 under a law passed the previous year, and the reasons Washington gave.
What did Washington say it was punishing when it sanctioned Russian companies in the days before 12 April 2018? The measures, announced on 6 April 2018, were still the main sanctions story on that date.
The United States imposed sanctions on twelve Russian-owned companies, a Russian arms exporter and a bank. It acted under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, known as CAATSA.
The U.S. cited several reasons. They included Russian meddling in the 2016 elections and military engagements in Ukraine, Crimea and Syria, among others. For Kyiv, the explicit mention of Ukraine and Crimea placed the conflict alongside the other grievances in the American justification.
The law behind the measures
CAATSA is a US federal law that imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia. It works by preventing U.S. companies from doing business with sanctioned entities. The Senate passed the bill on 27 July 2017 by 98 votes to 2, after the House had passed it 419 to 3. President Donald Trump signed it into law on 2 August 2017, though he believed the legislation was "seriously flawed".
By 12 April 2018, then, the April measures stood as the latest use of a law that had passed with overwhelming majorities in both chambers of Congress.
