U.S. sanctions Russia over nerve agent attack on ex-spy Skripal

The Trump administration will impose new sanctions against Russia over its use of a nerve agent in an attack against an ex-spy in Britain, officials told NBC News on Wednesday.

State Department officials said Russia violated international law when it poisoned Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal in March. The Kremlin has denied that it was behind the chemical attack, reports The Associated Press, but the U.K., Germany, France, and the U.S. banded together to say it was "highly likely" that Russia was responsible. Shortly after the attack, the Trump administration kicked dozens of Russian diplomats out of the U.S. to punish the Kremlin for the alleged crime.

The new sanctions will ban export licenses for electronic devices used for national security, which could affect hundreds of millions of dollars in future exports, and will likely downgrade diplomatic relations and air travel abilities in the coming months. The sanctions are expected to take effect within the next two weeks. Read more at NBC News.

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