Washington, D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) today issued the following statement after the administration announced Russia has not complied with requirements of the Chemical and Biological Weapons and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991:

“No one should be surprised that Vladimir Putin refuses to swear off future use of weapons-grade nerve agents. It is unacceptable that the administration lacks a plan – or even a timeline – for action on the second round of mandatory sanctions required by U.S. law. In recent years, Russia has engaged in a pattern of brazen poisonings – including the March 14 nerve agent attack carried out on the soil of the United Kingdom. The Trump administration needs to act quickly to uphold its own determination. Hesitation only encourages more Russian aggression.” 

NOTE: Chairman Royce has repeatedly pushed the administration to enforce the Chemical and Biological Weapons and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 following Russia’s use of a military-grade chemical weapon on UK soil earlier this year. Today’s deadline was triggered by the administration’s August 8 determination that Russia was indeed responsible for this attack. In testimony before the committee in September, Assistant Secretary Manisha Singh stated “we are looking at this November deadline and absolutely we plan to impose a very severe second round of sanctions under the CBW.”

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