Yes.

Posted on: January 31, 2018 at 16:20:21 CT

The State Department released a statement saying that the legislation itself (the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA) is already having the desired effect of deterring Russian interference.

“Today, we have informed Congress that this legislation and its implementation are deterring Russian defense sales,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in the 29 January announcement:

"Since the enactment of the CAATSA legislation, we estimate that foreign governments have abandoned planned or announced purchases of several billion dollars in Russian defense acquisitions."

As to when the State Department does plan on using its sanction powers under CAATSA, a spokesperson said that as long as the law is working by denying Russia the proceeds of military intelligence and equipment sales to other countries, “sanctions on specific entities or individuals will not need to be imposed because the legislation is, in fact, serving as a deterrent.”

Trump scoffed at the 2017 legislation even as he signed it into law, calling it “seriously flawed” and saying it “encroaches on the executive branch’s authority to negotiate.”

Edited by Spanky at 16:20:33 on 01/31/18