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The Trump administration said Tuesday that it is consulting with Congress on additional sanctions on the subject of poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain, in a move that is likely to further strain already tense relations.
The State Department said in a statement that Russia has failed to meet a 90-day deadline that fell on a 1991 United States law on prevention of use of chemical weapons.
The United States and its allies have been accused of the Russian government's involvement in the attack on the city of Salisbury. The State Department determined in August that Russia violated the chemical law in the Skripal case. Moscow strongly denies that it was behind the attack.
Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement that the agency will now consult Congress on the fresh sanctions.
"We intend to proceed in accordance with the terms of the CBW Act, which direct the implementation of additional sanctions," she said, referring to Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act.
Ties between Moscow and Washington are at War with President Donald Trump's hopes of building closer ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia already faces U.S. sanctions over its alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. election and its actions in Ukraine.
Putin has said Russia had no reason to attack Skripal, who had served time in prison for spying for Britain and then was released in a spy swap deal in 2010. Moscow also denies meddling in U.S. politics.
According to the credit agency Standard & Poor's, the Trump administration will be choosing six options for sanctions: restricting US imports of Russian oil, banning US technology and food exports, restricting Russia's access to international financial markets, prohibiting US banks from giving loans to the Russian government, further downgrading diplomats and restrictions in the US by Russia's Aeroflot Airlines.
Rep. Ed Royce, the Republican Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, called on the Trump administration "to act quickly" on sanctions.
In September, Yulia, with the Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok. The Skripals survived the attack.
Britain says "the business has been in good hands" at a senior government level. "
British-based investigative group Bellingcat has identified the two suspects as members of the Russian military intelligence unit known as GRU, one a military doctor and the other, a decorated agent.
The men deny involvement, saying they traveled to Salisbury as tourists.
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Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
