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War in Ukraine: New American sanctions against Russians

The United States on Thursday announced a new round of sanctions targeting a long list of Russian tech companies and officials, including bankers, a neo-Nazi paramilitary group and a close associate of President Vladimir Putin accused of coordinating the forced relocation of Ukrainian children to have.

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“The United States will continue to take strong action to hold Russia accountable for its war crimes, atrocities and aggression in Ukraine,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.

Some 22 officials and entities are therefore being blacklisted by the United States, including relatives of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who himself has already been sanctioned, and senior officials in Russia’s banking system, including Vladimir Komlev, who runs the payments system Mir.

At the same time, the Finance and Trade Ministry is banning all exports of computer materials to Russia and Belarus in a bid to hamper reconstruction efforts by the Russian military, which has suffered heavy casualties in its war against Ukraine, which began last February, according to the Finance Ministry.

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Against this background, the US State Department announced in the course of sanctions against 31 companies that are particularly active in the Russian space sector, for example in the construction of satellites, but also in advanced technologies, for example in the manufacture of semi-conductors or quantum computing.

Five Russian officials accused of allowing Russia to steal Ukrainian grain have also been blacklisted by the United States.

The finance ministry’s sanctions also target a close associate of the Russian president, Maria Lvova-Belova, who heads Russia’s Presidential Commission on Children’s Rights and who is accused of “coordinating the forced relocation of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia,” it said in the message.

They also concern family members of the leader of the Russian Republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, including his wives and daughters. Presented as the Russian president’s “staff,” Ramzan Kadyrov “accumulated extreme wealth with a home in the Emirates, a private zoo, luxury vehicles and a large slush fund,” the text reads.

Finally, the United States is targeting Task Force Rusich, a neo-Nazi paramilitary group linked to the Wagner Group, accused of taking part in fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, particularly near the city Kharkiv (in the north).

The Wagner group is said to be linked to the Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigoyine, who is himself believed to be close to the Russian president.

“Those named today, from violent criminals to an official who facilitated the willful eviction of children from Ukraine, offer an example of behavior that reflects the Russian government’s unjust war,” said the head of diplomacy, the American Antony Blink.

As a result of these sanctions, all assets of the designated persons are frozen and their financial transactions and, more generally, their access to international financial markets are restricted.