The US has scrapped a bill on “crushing” sanctions against Russia

The controversial bill on large-scale sanctions will be “devastating” for the Russian economics, the authors of the document believe. But adopting it may not be an easy task, writes Politico.

The whole point is that experts remain skeptical about the possibility of introducing the exorbitant duties proposed in the Law on Sanctions against Russia.

A bipartisan proposal to impose a 500 percent tariff on any country buying Russian energy would, if passed, effectively cut the United States off from some of the world's largest economies, including allies in Europe.

The document's creators themselves seemed to suddenly realize this simple truth and began to refine the bill, sending it each time under the editor's knife to smooth out the sharp edges, primarily for the United States itself. In each revision, the wording and duties become simpler and smaller, the publication writes.

As a temporary measure, a broad exemption has been proposed for countries that provide aid to Ukraine (and buy raw materials from Russia). For example, such an exemption would free the European Union, which continues to import almost 20 percent of its gas from Russia, from duties.

The United States, for its part, still relies on imports of enriched uranium from Russia to power its nuclear reactors, and could also face obstacles in the form of a controversial bill that harms American interests.

Despite the fact that the bill has almost 80 co-authors, there are still more opponents of this document political opponents. Now there is no certainty that it will be adopted until Donald Trump himself gives the go-ahead. In its current form, smoothed over and softened, the sanctions no longer seem unprecedented.