U.S. State Department says no to new Russia sanctions

The U.S. State Department on Monday did not announce any new sanctions under a 2017 U.S. law designed to punish Russia for allegedly seeking to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The State Department argues the law is alreadydeterring billions of dollars in Russiandefencesales.

"Today, we have informed Congress that this legislation and its implementation are deterring Russian defence sales," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. "Since the enactment of the ... legislation, we estimate that foreign governments have abandoned planned or announced purchases of several billion dollars in Russian defence acquisitions."

President Donald Trump had reluctantly signed the bill into law in August.

Members of Congress, including Democrats and some of Trump's fellow Republicans, have been clamoring for his administration to use sanctions to punish Moscow for past election interference and prevent future meddling in U.S. polls.

The State Department said further details were contained in a classified report it had submitted to Congress.

"Given the long time frames generally associated with major defence deals, the results of this effort are only beginning to become apparent," Nauert said. "From that perspective, if the law is working, sanctions on specific entities or individuals will not need to be imposed because the legislation is, in fact, serving as a deterrent."

An attempt to influence Russia's election?

Moscow and Washington remain at odds over U.S. allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, something Russia denies, as well as over conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

Ahead of the State Department announcement, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskovtold reporters on a conference call that Russia regarded new sanctions as an unfriendly attempt to sway the March presidential election.

"We do think this is a direct and obvious attempt timed to coincide with the elections in order to influence them," Peskov said. "We do not agree with this and are convinced that there will be no influence" on the electionresult.

Russia holds a presidential election on March 18, which opinion polls show incumbent Vladimir Putin should easily win.