US Promotes Anti-Russian Sanctions Fearing a 'Loss' if It Steps Back

Washington is considering the possibility to introduce new sanctions against Russia, targeting the energy sector. In an interview with Radio Sputnik, political expert Leonid Krutakov said that the US will further make every effort to impose its conditions on other countries.

"In order to understand what is going on, we must recall what is happening in America right now. The US public debt has reached the size of US GDP, and the country's contribution to global GDP is half of what the US consumes. Thus, if they [the Americans] do not exert pressure on others, the consequences will be hard to predict. But the Great Depression is going to seem like a walk in the park," Krutakov said.

In his opinion, Washington plans to ignore not only Russia's interests, but also the position of the European Union.

"We are facing a very tough point of confrontation, when no one can step back. We need to sit down and negotiate, but any agreement would look for America like a loss," the expert said.

Earlier, Germany and Austria slammed the latest US sanctions against Russia's energy sector, warning that the measure would affect European companies involved in piping in natural gas from Russia.

In a joint statement, Germany's Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Austria's Chancellor Christian Kern said that Wednesday's decision by the US Senate to slap new sanctions on Moscow over its alleged meddling in the US presidential election and the Ukrainian conflict would make the European energy industry less competitive and would put thousands of jobs on the line.

The outlined anti-Russian measures provide for stiff penalties on enterprises that cooperate with Russian oil and gas companies. They also target Nord Stream 2, a pipeline that would double Russia's ability to supply gas to Europe under the Baltic Sea. The measures could affect European energy companies, including Shell, Engie and OMV, which are financing the pipeline.