A woman rides a bicycle past part of the Kremlin wall, where Russia’s national flag is projected, during Russia Day celebrations in Moscow, Russia June 12, 2020. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo
BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON – The United States and its allies ramped up pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, as Washington imposed new sanctions on dozens of Russian defense contractors, hundreds of members of its parliament and the chief executive of the largest bank of the country.
The US Treasury Department also issued notices on its website warning that gold-related transactions involving Russia could be sanctioned by US authorities, a move aimed at preventing Russia from existing ones avoid sanctions.
“Our goal here is to systematically eliminate the advantages and privileges that Russia once enjoyed as a participant in the international economic order,” a senior government official said, on condition that they not be named.
The United States and its allies have imposed several rounds of sanctions, including on the country’s biggest lenders and President Vladimir Putin, since Russian troops invaded Ukraine a month ago in the biggest attack on a European state since World War II. Continue reading
Moscow is calling the attack a “special operation” to disarm and “denazify” its neighbor.
The new sanctions targets include more than 40 defense contractors, including the state-owned Tactical Missiles Corp and 28 firms with which it is affiliated, as well as its general manager, the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The Treasury Department said Washington’s actions are consistent with similar actions by the EU, the UK and Canada.
The Treasury Department said the conglomerate, which Britain has already imposed sanctions on, produces naval systems and weapons that Russia uses against Ukraine, including the Kh-31, a high-speed air-launched guided missile that has been used extensively in Moscow’s offensive.
Other companies on the new list include makers of ammunition for the Russian military, civilian and military helicopters and drones, which the Treasury said were originally intended for surveillance but were “repurposed” and used to attack Ukrainian forces.
The Treasury also imposed sanctions on 328 members of the Duma, Russia’s parliament, and on Herman Gref, the head of Russia’s largest lender, Sberbank (SBER.MM), who the Treasury said was a close ally of Putin.
The United States said last month that US banks must sever their correspondent bank ties — which allow banks to make payments between themselves and move money around the globe — with Sberbank, but has not frozen its assets. Continue reading
The United States also on Thursday targeted 17 board members of Sovcombank, also under US sanctions, and Gennady Timchenko, a longtime ally of Putin, his companies and family members.
The official said the United States had warned Putin that if he invaded Ukraine, there would be quick and serious consequences, and they had complied with that threat. The official noted that the country is facing punitive inflation and economic pains that will push it out of the world’s 20 largest economies.
“Russia will soon face an acute shortage of ideas, talent and technology to be competitive in the 21st century, leaving Putin with a strategic failure of his own fault,” the official said.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said earlier this week the United States would consult with allies on including Russia in the G20 group of the world’s largest economies.
The sanctions and their economic consequences could facilitate this discussion by effectively excluding Moscow due to its shrinking economy.
Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, Daphne Psaledakis, Jeff Mason and Jonathan Landay Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Heather Timmons and Jonathan Oatis