Obama to OK Russia sanctions

President to sign bill adding penalties, giving Ukraine aid

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has decided to sign legislation imposing further sanctions on Russia and authorizing additional aid to Ukraine despite concerns that it will complicate his efforts to maintain a unified front with European allies, the White House said Tuesday.

The legislation calls for a raft of new measures penalizing Russia's military and energy sectors and authorizes $350 million in military assistance to Ukraine, including anti-tank weapons, tactical surveillance drones and counterartillery radar. The bill was approved unanimously by Congress, but Obama hedged for days on whether he would sign it.

Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, announced the decision to approve the bill even as he described the president's qualms over it.

Earnest said it sent a "confusing message" internationally, including language "that doesn't reflect ongoing negotiations" with European powers. But in the end, he added, the president opted to allow the bill to become law because it does contain some flexibility that will give him room to maneuver.

Russia's economy is reeling from the collapse of the ruble, the increasing flight of capital investment and the specter of recession. Previous rounds of sanctions imposed by Obama and the European Union in response to Russia's military intervention in Ukraine have contributed to a broader economic and political instability that has been exacerbated in recent days by the plunge in the price of oil, on which Russia is deeply dependent.

Earnest said the turmoil was owing in significant part to President Vladimir Putin's own actions.

"It's a sign of the failure of Vladimir Putin's strategy to try to buck up his country," Earnest said. "Right now, he and his country are isolated from the broader international community."

Russian officials have lashed out in recent days at the prospect of new sanctions.

"Russia will not only survive but will come out much stronger," Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister, told France 24. "We have been in much worse situations in our history, and every time we have got out of our fix much stronger."

He said there were "very serious reasons to believe" that the United States was pursuing a regime-change strategy to topple Putin's government, and he denigrated U.S. lawmakers.

"If you look at U.S. Congress, 80 percent of them have never left the USA, so I'm not surprised about Russophobia in Congress," Lavrov said.

Obama has already authorized multiple rounds of sanctions that have largely cut off major Russian banks from U.S. credit markets, blocked the transfer of technology for long-term energy exploration, and frozen assets and barred travel to the United States for a number of Putin's allies.

Obama has made it a top priority to coordinate those measures with European allies, which have been more reluctant to escalate the confrontation with Russia because of closer economic ties.

The White House has been concerned that the new legislation would go beyond what the Europeans are willing to do and would contradict Obama's own policy preferences for how to handle the showdown with Moscow. Obama has opposed sending weaponry to Ukraine on the grounds that it would exacerbate the conflict against pro-Russian forces in its eastern regions.

The legislation authorizes the provision of lethal arms but would not require it.

Likewise, it requires the president to impose at least three sanctions from nine options on Rosoboronexport, the main Russian state arms exporter, and other military companies blamed for fostering instability in Ukraine, as well as in Moldova, Georgia and Syria. But it includes a provision that allows the president to waive the requirement if he concludes that doing so would be in the nation's security interest.

The legislation also authorizes, without requiring, the president to impose sanctions on international companies that invest in certain types of unconventional Russian crude oil energy projects and to further restrict the export of equipment for use in Russia's energy sector. And it authorizes the president to bar investment or credit to Gazprom, the Russian state energy giant.

The bill passed both houses without any no votes, clearing its last hurdle Saturday.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, had pressed Obama to approve the measure. He decided to do so after aides concluded it contained enough room for him to maneuver.

"The president does intend to sign the piece of legislation that was passed by Congress," Earnest said. "But we do have some concerns about that legislation because while it preserves flexibility, it does send a confusing message to our allies because it includes some sanctions language that does not reflect the consultations that are ongoing."

A Section on 12/17/2014

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