The Voice of America reported about it.

The bill was initiated by members of the House of Representatives Mike Rogers, Mike Turner, and Elise Stefanik.

The document provides for the prosecution of the aggressor state of Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The congressional representatives want to impose sanctions against the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. According to US politicians, the sanctions will permanently block the commissioning of the pipeline, which will hurt the Russian economy.

“It is worth looking at this bill in the general context and understanding that it is extremely positive, but I have doubts about its adoption. There is an imperative norm, namely: to impose sanctions on Nord Stream-2 and revoke the right of the President of the United States to postpone or lift the imposition of sanctions. Congress wants to do this on its own. And this is considered an attack on presidential powers, and the Democrats may not agree to the adoption of this bill”, - political scientist Oleksandr Khara told Suspilne Crimea.

He added that the EU wants to step a little on the powers of the president, and this is more than Democrats and Republicans did together under Trump.

Oleksandr Khara drew attention to whether there could be problems with the adoption of the bill, given that the US president is now a Democrat, and the Republicans are the initiators of the NATO-plus bill.

“Right now, Democrats and Republicans look at Russia equally and support us equally”, - he said.

Military expert Oleg Zhdanov told Suspilne Crimea that this could be an obstacle, as there is an advantage in the votes of the Democrats, but concerning Ukraine, the interests of Congress coincide.

He said it looked more like a political move than an opportunity. The United States had invented another lever to put pressure on Russia.

“If Russia resists, the United States will strengthen the possibilities for Ukraine to move towards NATO. I have doubts that this bill will reach a real vote or final transformation into a law. Perhaps it would expand the opportunities of Ukraine in cooperation with NATO and would give a chance to join the Alliance”, - the expert said.

Now Ukraine has the status of a NATO partner with expanded opportunities.

Ukraine will be the first state to receive the conditional status of “NATO-plus” not instead of membership in the Alliance, but for the period before official membership in it, because officially such a club of countries as “NATO-plus” does not exist anywhere, except for some US bills.

I tried to find out if there was any legal status in NATO Plus but found nothing. But the important thing is that they have an expanded range of opportunities for Ukraine," Oleksandr Khara said.

On December 23, during an annual press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin once again stated that NATO had “cheated” Russia with successive waves of enlargement since the Cold War.

“NATO has never promised not to expand. In fact, the founding treaty of our organization states that any European country can become a member of the Alliance. Second, there are documents relating to the 1970s and 1990s: the Helsinki Final Act, the Paris Charter, the Russia-NATO Constituent Act, and many other treaties that make it clear that countries have the right to choose their own path”, - Stoltenberg said.

Political scientist Oleksandr Khara spoke about the possible escalation on the part of Russia after the official recognition of Ukraine as a member of NATO Plus.

“We live with unpredictable neighbours. We understand that the offensive can happen at any time. Of course, the potential threat will continue for a long time. As for Putin’s actions - responding with a large-scale invasion is counterproductive because there will immediately be various sanctions, there will be more strengthening of US and NATO allies and increased support for Ukraine from the West”, - Khara said.

He also added that there would be a local escalation.

“Remember that we border on Belarus. There is Lukashenko, through whom Putin can make things worse for our country. Now we are very vulnerable because Putin understands he will not achieve what he needs along the path of diplomacy. We should prepare for an escalation, but not a large-scale one. It is possible that the escalation from the LPR and DPR will begin, but not for the entire country”, - the political scientist believes.

According to the military expert, Europe will do everything to prevent a full-scale war.

“The aggravation on the border is a painful topic for Putin. Europe is very afraid of war. Let's remember 2014 and how they persuaded us to cease the fire. It didn't matter to them who, where, and why was fighting. The goal was to stop the war. If provocations officially start on the border from the Russian Federation, this is open war in Europe. They will suppress Russian anger. I think that this is an ordinary political game, not a military threa”, - Zhdanov said.