The latest anti-Russian sanctions package about to be made law by the US Congress will not materially harm the Russian economy. However it does pose a challenge for Germany and the EU: do they press on buying cheap pipeline gas from Russia or expensive liquified gas from the US.
News that the Republicans and the Democrats in the House of Representatives have agreed on a new sanctions package against Russia will be deeply unwelcome news, and not just or even primarily in Moscow.
The new sanctions package will not have the big impact on the Russian economy that some are expecting. The Russian economy has sailed through the previous far more severe sectoral sanctions which were imposed on Russia in July 2014, and the collapse in oil prices which took place in the second half of that year. The result was only a short and shallow recession, out of which Russia is now rapidly emerging. Indeed there are some who calculate that growth this year will be enough by itself to wipe out all the output loss during the recession, though I do not share this view.
The new sanctions in economic terms do not add significantly to the sanctions which were imposed in 2014. They appear intended to target the personal assets of super-wealthy Russians - a deeply unpopular class still wrongly referred to as "oligarchs", though the days of their power in Russia are long gone - and to impede Western and specifically US participation and investment in certain of Russia's industries, first and foremost those in the extractive sector.
The days when Russian companies looked first and foremost to the West for capital and technology were however brought to an end - by the West itself - in 2014, and the new sanctions do not add materially to what happened then.
Comment: Could it be that it's "not the best time" because the US is already engaged in a cyber war with Russia?