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Biden and the Incoming Administration
First, note how outgoing President Joe Biden is trying to ensure some things, like sanctions, are hard to remove. While European leaders believe that incoming President Donald Trump might be willing to support Ukraine, Biden is doing all he can to ensure the support remains.
So this is the latest, via the Moscow Times. That way, we get to see some reaction from Russians, even though these people are no longer in Moscow but remain in the ideological fight:
Biden Decides to Protect Russia Sanctions from Trump’s Lifting
President Joe Biden’s administration, days before leaving office, used a 2017 law to prevent its successors from easing key sanctions on Russia. Under the new rules, Congress can block lifting the restrictions and make secondary sanctions mandatory.
Under the measures announced by the US Treasury Department on Wednesday, about 100 of Russia’s most important financial, energy and defence companies, from one of the country’s largest arms manufacturers, Tactical Missiles, to the Moscow Exchange, will be added to the new list. If the executive branch wants to remove any of the names from the list, Congress will have 30 days to consider the decision. If it does not approve it, the delisting will be blocked, the Financial Times notes .
The lawmakers’ powers are based on…