WASHINGTON — The U.S. on Wednesday announced a new package of sanctions against Russia in response to reported atrocities in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, which includes economic sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adult children and senior Russian security officials.
The additional sanctions, imposed in coordination with the Group of Seven and the European Union, are intended to impose “heavy and immediate economic costs” on Russia for its brutalities in Ukraine, the White House said.
“As long as Russia continues its brutal attack on Ukraine, we, together with our allies and partners, will continue to impose additional costs on Russia for its actions,” the White House said in an announcement of the sanctions.
The measures include a ban on all new investment in Russia, increased sanctions on Russia’s largest financial institutions and state-owned companies, including Sberbank and Alfa Bank, and sanctions on Russian government officials and their family members. Among those affected by the full lockdown sanctions are Putin’s two adult daughters, the wife and daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and members of Russia’s Security Council including former President and Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
The measures against Sberbank and Alfa Bank, Russia’s largest private bank, freeze all their assets touching a US financial institution and ban US citizens from doing business with the two banks. The sanctions against state-owned companies, not yet named, prohibit any US citizen from doing business with the companies.
As with previous economic measures for Russian financial institutions, there is a spin-off for energy.
The measures aim to “weaken key instruments of Russian state power” and quickly inflict economic damage on Russia, sources told CBS News on Tuesday.
President Biden told reporters at the White House on Monday that he would seek additional sanctions against Russia after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Bucha, a town outside of Kyiv where Ukrainian officials said they discovered the bodies of civilians after himself Russian forces had withdrawn from the area.
“You saw what happened in Bucha. That justifies him – he’s a war criminal,” Mr Biden said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “But we need to gather the information, we need to keep providing Ukraine with the weapons it needs to continue the fight, and we need to get all the details so that this can be an actual — a war process.” This guy is brutal and what is happening in Bucha is outrageous and everyone has seen it.”
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also told reporters at the White House that they expected more sanctions announcements “this week.”
In a virtual address to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, Zelenskyy explained to the panel of 15 what he described as war crimes by Russian forces that invaded Ukraine, accusing them of intentionally killing adults and children and trying to burn theirs Body.
“Russian troops are deliberately destroying Ukrainian cities with artillery and air strikes. They deliberately blockade cities and cause mass starvation. They deliberately shoot at columns of civilians in the streets trying to escape hostilities. They even intentionally blow up shelters where civilians are hiding, during airstrikes,” said Zelenskyy.
While Russia has dismissed the shocking scenes as “fake,” CBS News has seen clear first-hand evidence of atrocities in the towns and villages surrounding Kyiv. In the streets of Bucha, bodies were found littering the streets while dozens more were thrown into mass graves.
The devastation left in its wake by Putin’s troops has prompted fresh calls for tougher sanctions against Russia, including a complete halt to oil and gas imports. Germany and France have already expelled dozens of diplomats for allegedly being spies.
Since Russia launched its attacks on Ukraine in late February, the US and its European allies have joined forces to impose coordinated sanctions aimed at cutting Russia off from the global economy.
According to an analysis by the Institute for International Finance, Russia’s economy is projected to contract by 15% or more in 2022, a collapse in Russia’s GDP that will wipe out economic growth over the past 15 years.
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