(1 Aug 2017) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence says President Donald Trump will sign a bill on a new package of sanctions against Russia.
Pence, who is visiting the former Soviet republic of Georgia Tuesday, said the Trump administration "had concerns" about the bill when it was drafted in the Senate, but that Trump will sign it soon.
"But the president and our congress are unified in our message to Russia - a better relationship, the lifting of sanctions will require Russia to reverse the actions that caused the sanctions to be imposed in the first place, and not before," Pence told US and Georgian troops.
The U.S. Senate voted last week to approve the new financial sanctions against Moscow.
The legislation bars Trump from easing or waiving the penalties on Russia unless Congress agrees.
In response, Russia last Friday ordered the U.S. Embassy and three U.S. consulates in Russia to drastically cut its personnel there.
Earlier Tuesday, Pence and his wife Karen visited the Sioni Cathedral of the Dormition.
After a tour of the Cathedral, the Pences exchanged words with h is Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, the Catholicos-Patriach of All Georgia, and lit candles at The Sioni Icon of the Mother of God.