President Trump has signed an executive order to slap new sanctions on Russia over its use of chemical weapons in a 2018 attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the U.K., Politico reports. Trump already imposed one round of sanctions against Russia, in accordance with The Chemical and Biological Weapons and Warfare Elimination Act. The 1991 law states that the president must impose another round of sanctions if it cannot be determined that Russia’s use of chemical weapons has stopped—which the U.S. intelligence community was unable to do. The executive order was reportedly signed days after the leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee sent the White House a letter urging Trump to impose the mandated second round of sanctions to “hold Russia fully accountable for its blatant use of a chemical weapon in Europe.” According to Bloomberg, the Treasury and State Departments had the sanctions ready to go in March but they were waiting for Trump’s sign off.
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