In one email exchange, a State Department official feels the need to explain that lowering punitive sanctions on the Russian oil industry would be rewarding Moscow—without getting anything from the Kremlin in return.
A senior Trump administration official said NSC strategist Kevin Harrington was simply examining the sanctions on Russia and trying to determine their impact, as part of the review of overall policy toward Russia.
“He did an economic analysis of what the Russian sanctions are doing. He said according to his analysis, they weren’t causing any significant pain,” the official said, speaking anonymously to provide context on NSC policy. “His view was, if these sanctions are harming our economy without putting any pressure on Russia, what’s the point?”
The State Department’s sanctions office also explained that lowering Russian oil prices would be harmful to the US energy industry, according to the unclassified email exchange reviewed by The Daily Beast.
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