*WASHINGTON: The White House is weighing additional sanctions againstRussia, senior administration officials said Wednesday, pushing backagainst allegations that Donald Trump has been a soft touch on Moscow.*

Speaking on condition of anonymity, officials said a “task force” has beenset up to address potential meddling in the 2018 congressional electionsand work is underway to introduce more sanctions in response to Moscow’s2016 campaign.

Highlighting one potentially far-reaching step, a senior administrationofficial said they have already warned governments around the world thatthey could face sanctions for “significant transactions” with the Russianmilitary.

That includes NATO ally Turkey, which has publicly announced the purchaseof a Russian S-400 air defense missile system, which is seen as a challengeto US air superiority.

A second official said that “a couple of big countries” were reconsideringtheir purchases as a result of the global diplomatic “demarche.”

Those type of third country sanctions were part of a package of measurespassed by Congress approved last July, that were opposed by the White House.

Trump’s vocal opposition to the package — which entered into law earlierthis year — and his regular praise of Vladimir Putin has raised questionsabout whether the administration is dragging its feet.

Several members of Trump’s campaign have been charged or admitted to lyingto the FBI about their contacts with Kremlin-related officials who areaccused of trying to sway the 2016 vote in Trump’s favor.

US officials on Wednesday admitted no specific sanctions had beenintroduced yet, but said that was because the administration was doing itsdue diligence, rather than an attempt to slow-walk the process.

*– ‘National security issue’ –*

The first official also stressed the need to avoid leaks that could tip offpotential sanction targets, allowing them to move money out of bankaccounts or take other mitigating steps.

“We are doing an awful lot of work, we are taking this very seriously, itis a national security issue,” the official said, answering criticism.

“I would hope you would just give us a little bit of an indulgence to dosome of these things behind the scenes and be able to reveal them when wecan.”

“We would like to get after these guys and we would like to catch them inthe act and not enable them to change course … so that we have a hardertime detecting them.”

One example given was the shuttering of the Russian consulate in SanFrancisco, which was ordered closed late last year, taking Moscow bysurprise.

“The Russians did not see that coming” said the first official, adding,“which is an absolute bloody miracle frankly” given reporting before adecision was made.

A third administration official hit back directly at unfavorablecomparisons to Barack Obama’s administration.

“The categorical thing that I’ve seen in so much coverage… that it is anabject fact that the previous administration was tougher than thisadministration is provably false,” a third official said.

Trump has recently tried to shift the blame for election meddling — whichhe had once decried as “fake news” — onto Obama, arguing it occurred on hiswatch.

“Question: If all of the Russian meddling took place during the ObamaAdministration, right up to January 20th, why aren’t they the subject ofthe investigation?” he tweeted on Wednesday morning.

“Why didn’t Obama do something about the meddling? Why aren’t Dem crimesunder investigation? Ask Jeff Sessions!” he added, urging his AttorneyGeneral to act. – APP/ AFP