Penalties against Russia mostly cripple US businesses, including the major firms, which have to suffer heavy losses due to the latest bans, head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia has said. “During our visit to Washington one of the US corporations said that the potential impact might be quite significant. The firm currently works in Russia and is now forced to suspend both short and long-term contracts…the company alone may lose around a billion dollars,” Alexis Rodzianko, the Chamber’s president and CEO, told RIA Novosti. He added that German businesses projected losses of up to €10 billion due to the penalties against RUSAL, Russia’s largest aluminum producer. Businesses are currently trying to exert some influence on the authorities’ decision and have succeeded so far, according to Rodzianko, who cites the extending of the time limit for satisfying the requirements by almost five months. The Chamber’s president highlighted that the very fact of mentioning RUSAL by the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was unprecedented. Last month, the US Treasury said that Washington may cut or lift the sanctions from the world’s second-largest aluminum producer by output, if its owner Oleg Deripaska sold his stake in the company. Rodzianko said that the…