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Join on Telegram Casablanca – US Senator Marco Rubio, vice chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, has called for sanctions against Algeria for purchasing Russian weapons in violation of the “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.”
In a letter sent on September 14 to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Senator Rubio called for “appropriate designation of parties whose significant purchase of Russian materiel enable Russia’s destabilizing actions.”
Rubio referred in his letter to Algeria as “the top four purchasers of Russian arms worldwide, culminating with a $7 billion arms deal in 2021,” believing that any “influx of money from any source to Russia will only further enable Russia’s war machine in Ukraine.”
However, penalties allowed under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act have yet to be used, Senator Rubio warned.
According to Florida’s Republican senator, the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (Public Law 115-44) allows for sanctions against any party that ”engaged in significant transactions with representatives of the defense or intelligence sectors of the Government of the Russian Federation.”
“Accordingly, I encourage you to take the threat Russia continues to pose to global stability seriously and to appropriately designate parties whose significant purchase of Russian materiel enable Russia’s destabilizing actions,” US Senator Rubio concluded.
Read also: Algeria Could Face US Sanctions Over Military Technology Ambitions
The call to impose sanctions against Algeria’s Russian arms deals was initiated in a letter sent to the US Senate by the Moroccan community in 2021.
The letter, authored by Moroccan Political Analyst, Senior Advisor, and MWN Editor-in-Chief Samir Bennis, drew the attention of the US Senate to Algeria’s military to Russia and the necessity for sanctions against it.
“Algeria is Russia’s main military customer in Africa,” the letter noted, highlighting how Algerian-Russian arms deals threaten regional stability.
“Algeria is at odds with the CAATSA,” the letter added, in reference to the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.
“Rather than endorsing the talking points of lobbying firms bent on maintaining the status quo in order to keep their lucrative contracts, it will behoove Congress to urge the Biden administration to take bold decisions that aim not to satisfy the views of some powerful voices in Washington, but to serve US interests in the region and to preserve its stability,” the letter concluded.
It was sent primarily to correct some of the fallacies about Western Sahara in a letter, led by US Senator James Inhofe and 27 senators, addressed to US President Joe Biden on February 17.
The senators’ letter urged the president to reverse the US’ recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara and contained various misconceptions about the Western Sahara dispute.
According to the Moroccan community, “the letter [sent by senators] gives the impression that the conflict began in 1975 and ended in 1991, when the UN established MINURSO. Nothing that happened before and after these dates seems to count as relevant history.”
