WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Biden administration is discussing with Congress new economic measures to penalize Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.
“We’re discussing with Congress analogous measures,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told a news briefing, noting President Joe Biden’s statement last week that he would not approve designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Ukraine and some U.S. lawmakers have pushed for such a designation, but U.S. officials have said that there could be unintended consequences, including delaying food exports and jeopardizing deals to move goods through the Black Sea.
“We have to take into account the consequences, both the intended and the unintended. And that has led us to the approach we’ve taken here,” said Price. “We are engaging with Congress on tools that would continue to have analogous implications for the Russian economy, for the Russian government, that would not have those unintended consequences.”
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Simon Lewis; Editing by Mark Porter and Lisa Shumaker)
