The British have persuaded over Russian denials that Russia committed the nerve gas attack in Britain:
The leaders of France, Germany, the US and UK say there is "no plausible alternative explanation" to Russia having been behind the nerve agent attack in the UK.
They condemned the "first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War", calling it an assault on UK sovereignty.
Britain has started retaliatory measures and more will follow, I'm sure, from Britain and their allies.
Add those to sanctions put on Russia for dismembering Ukraine.
And add these American sanctions for Russian interference in our election process:
Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated five entities and 19 individuals under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) as well as Executive Order (E.O.) 13694, “Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities,” as amended, and codified pursuant to CAATSA.
“The Administration is confronting and countering malign Russian cyber activity, including their attempted interference in U.S. elections, destructive cyber-attacks, and intrusions targeting critical infrastructure,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “These targeted sanctions are a part of a broader effort to address the ongoing nefarious attacks emanating from Russia. Treasury intends to impose additional CAATSA sanctions, informed by our intelligence community, to hold Russian government officials and oligarchs accountable for their destabilizing activities by severing their access to the U.S. financial system.”
So sanctions for invasion. Sanctions for election meddling. Sanctions for nerve gas murder.
The West should just get rid of all the various reasons to streamline the process and sanction Russia for being Russia. Keep it simple.
#WhyRussiaCan'tHaveNiceThings
UPDATE: Our ambassador to the UN seems to back my idea:
"We take no pleasure in having to constantly criticize Russia, but we need Russia to stop giving us so many reasons to do so."
"Russia" would be a handy umbrella reason to act, no?
