The State Department will need time to complete its consultations with Congress on potential new sanctions against Russia over the poisoning of a former military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, State Department spokesperson Robert Palladino said in a press briefing on Wednesday, Sputnik reported.
"The process takes time and we want to get sanctions right," Palladino told reporters when asked whether there was a timeline for deciding on new sanctions.
He added that the United States is carefully considering the impact future sanctions could have on US national security interest. On Tuesday, Palladino said the United States intends to proceed with new sanctions against Russia over the Skripal attack.
The United States has accused Russia of involvement in the March 4 nerve agent attack on Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English town of Salisbury, a claim repeatedly denied by Moscow.
On August 24, the United States announced that it was imposing sanctions on Russia under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991.
Under the terms of the Act, Russia was given until November 6 to prove it had complied with the strict conditions it imposed, including inspections, or face a new round of even more severe sanctions.
The Trump administration on Tuesday informed Congress that Russia had not complied with the conditions, and the State Department said it would proceed with new sanctions.
The law allows for the termination of foreign assistance and arms sales, denial of US government credit or other financial assistance, prohibitions on exports and a suspension of diplomatic relations, among other possible measures.