Photo: Taken from Prensa LatinaPhoto: Taken from Prensa LatinaMOSCOW .- (Prensa Latina) With the imposition of sanctions against Russia, the United States is closing the short chapter of rapprochement between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Hamburg, to open a long way of confrontation with unpredictable consequences.

 A Congress-passed bill calls for new sanctions against Russia, with a particular impact on its energy sector, based on three arguments, seen by experts here as totally inconsistent or unjustifiable.

The proposal, passed in the House of Representatives with only three votes against on July 25, and three days later in the Senate with just two oppositions, declares Russia an enemy of the United States, for the first time since the beginning of that policy of restrictions in 2014.

In addition, it positions Russia alongside Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, considered by Washington as pariah nations and against which it carries out a virulent policy, especially after the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House.

The text of US restrictions accuses Russia of destabilizing Ukraine, causing terror among the civilian population in Syria and interfering in US internal affairs.

Recently, the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior had to admit that it lacks concrete evidence to demonstrate the participation of regular Russian forces in the conflict in the coal-rich region of Donbass, with more than 10 thousand dead, mostly civilians.

However, Kiev, which constantly violates the Minsk agreements to seek a peaceful solution to the dispute in Donbass, is presented in the West as the victim of an aggression of Moscow, while the coup in Ukraine is seen as a revolution against the pro -Russian power.

In Syria, the Russian military forces are the only ones that act with complete legality and have been present there since the end of 2015 at the request of Damascus to support the fight against terrorist armed formations, financed and supplied from abroad.

More than 2,000 Syrian localities have joined the ceasefire regime, with the mediation of the Russian Reconciliation Center, while at least four de-escalation areas have been created, where fighting is suspended and access to humanitarian aid is guaranteed as a way to secure peace.

On the other hand, no concrete evidence was ever presented on Moscow's alleged interference in US domestic affairs or in its presidential election last November. A senior Democrat leader acknowledged that it was necessary to stop looking for Russia's guilt in Hillary Clinton's election defeat and advised to delve into the mistakes of that political organization.

Despite all these factors, the United States imposes the sanctions package that gives Trump a prerogative to punish anyone involved in plans for investments in the Russian energy sector, whether exploration, extraction or delivery of technology. The measures, which also include the metallurgical sector, would become law with Trump's signature; partial or complete repeal could only be made after approval by Congress.

The text refers to punishing any US or third-country investor who deposits more than one million dollars at one time or more than five million dollars in a year. In addition, the project involves companies with at least 30 percent of the state capital.

The measures also deal specifically with the North-2 pipeline project, which would carry Russian natural gas across the Baltic Sea and without intermediaries directly to Germany. Berlin has already protested against the proposed US sanction as it will prejudiced its interests and needs in the hot oil field.

Together with the Russian company Gazpprom, the Austrian companies OMV, the French Engie, the German Wintershall and Uniper, as well as the Indo-British Shell, also participate in the pipeline. German political scientist Alexander Pap believes that both Americans and their European allies are trying to torpedo Torrent North-2 to keep the Ukrainian government afloat, which came to power after a coup in Kiev in February 2014.

According to the consulting firm IHS Markit, Russia now has 90 pipelines, including those going to 13 countries, five of them belonging to the European Union. President Vladimir Putin has joined criticism from those in Europe who believe that Washington is trying to gain commercial advantage by implementing punitive measures affecting its own allies, particularly in the gas sales and distribution sector.

Russia's reaction to sanctions was expected. It announced the end of the activities of the US embassy in the Moscow warehouses of Dvorni Street and the Serebreni Bor Rest Houses Complex, all before 1 August. In addition, by September 1, staff of the US diplomatic mission, along with its consulates in several Russian cities, should decrease from 1,200 to 455. But the list of measures could grow, because the Foreign Ministry indicated that it reserved the right to apply more countermeasures.