The US Congress plans to extend a ban on military cooperation between US and Russian forces, according to a report by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“The US military is facing challenges on many fronts, including an alarming increase in the number of serious accidents in the process of the exercise,” states the document that calls Russia a “competitor” of the United States.
Also, the text mentions the need “to provide flexibility to strategic partners and allies for the transition from the use of Russian weapons to the US,” not to accept the ”annexation” of the Crimea and to allocate $250 million for the supply of lethal weapons to Ukraine.
In May, the US House of Representatives passed a whopping $717 billion annual defense spending bill for the 2019 fiscal year.
After the draft has been approved by the upper house, the Senate, it will be submitted for signature by President Donald Trump.
US lawmakers claim that Russia has violated all key arms control agreements, expanded and modernized its nuclear arsenal, tested new missile defense systems and used its new technological advances to “destabilize its neighbors.”
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Congress wants President Trump to give a definitive answer to whether or not Russia has seriously breached the terms of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
The bill also envisages the release of $6.3 billion for the so-called European Deterrence Initiative aimed at containing “Russian aggression” and ramping up the US military’s presence in Europe.