Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
US Announces Sweeping New Russia Sanctions 1 Year Into War
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
February 24, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The U.S. announced a new round of sanctions on Russian firms, banks, manufacturers and people Friday, aiming them at entities that helped Russia evade sanctions earlier in the year-old war against Ukraine.

Russia’s metals and mining sector is among those targeted in one of the U.S. Treasury Department’s “most significant sanctions actions to date,” according to the agency.

The action, taken in coordination with Group of Seven allies, seeks to punish 250 people and firms, puts financial blocks on banks, arms dealers and technology companies tied to weapons production, and goes after alleged sanctions evaders in countries from the United Arab Emirates to Switzerland.

“Our sanctions have had both short-term and long-term impact, seen acutely in Russia’s struggle to replenish its weapons and in its isolated economy,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a written statement. “Our actions today with our G7 partners show that we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

Yellen is attending the G-20 finance ministers’ meetings in Bengaluru, India, this week. On Friday morning she told senior Russian officials attending meetings that “their continued work for the Kremlin makes them complicit in Putin’s atrocities.”

“They bear responsibility for the lives and livelihoods being taken in Ukraine and the harm caused globally,” she said.

The sanctions come after the White House announced early Friday morning that the Pentagon would commit $2 billion for more rounds of ammunition and a variety of small, high-tech drones into the fight against Russia.

Increased Pressure on Russia

The State and Commerce departments and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will also issue plans Friday to increase pressure on Russia. These steps increase tariffs on Russian products and add nearly 90 Russian and third-country companies, including from China, to a list of identified sanctions evaders.

Named in Friday’s sanctions package are a dozen financial institutions, including Russia’s largest non-state public bank, importers of microelectronics and producers of carbon fiber, a key material for defense systems.

The package names more than 30 people and firms allegedly connected to Russia’s sanctions evasion efforts. Among them: Swiss-Italian businessman Walter Moretti and his businesses; Nurmurad Kurbanov, a Russian-Turkmen arms dealer who is alleged to have represented Russian and Belarusian defense firms abroad; and Russian businessman Aleksandr Yevgenyevich Udodov, the former brother-in-law of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

More than 30 countries representing more than half the world’s economy have already imposed unprecedented sanctions on the Russian economy, making it the most sanctioned nation in the world.

They have imposed price caps on Russian oil and diesel, frozen Russian Central Bank funds and restricted access to SWIFT, the dominant system for global financial transactions.

The West has directly sanctioned roughly 2,500 Russian firms, government officials, oligarchs and their families. The sanctions are depriving them of access to their American bank accounts and financial markets, preventing them from doing business with Americans and traveling to the U.S, and more.

After a year, the West’s export controls and financial sanctions appear to be gradually eroding Russia’s industrial capacity, even as its oil and other energy exports last year enabled it to keep funding a catastrophic war.

At the G-20 meetings Friday, Britain’s treasury chief, Jeremy Hunt said, “We don’t think the job is by any means done.”

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Marie, at a G-20 press conference said, “our sanctions are strong, they are efficient, they are hitting and reducing all revenues of Russia.”

“They are disorganizing Russian industry, undermining war efforts,” he said. “Sanctions are effective and will be more effective in the long term.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Newsom Uses a Stunt to Position Himself as a Leader of Anti-Trump Resistance

DON'T MISS

CA Legislature Sets Record for Women in Office and Could See Historic Gender Parity

DON'T MISS

Trump to Target Iran’s Oil Trade in Renewed ‘Maximum Pressure’ Campaign

DON'T MISS

Over 2,500 Central Unified Students Receive Spirit Sweaters at 20th Annual ‘Warm for Winter’

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest Gang Members in Shooting Involving 7-Month-Old

DON'T MISS

Fresno Team Makes Low-Budget Horror Flicks Look Like Multi-Million-Dollar Productions

DON'T MISS

4B Movement: After the Election, a Call for Women to Swear Off Men

DON'T MISS

Homeowners’ Effort to Leave Sierra Unified Ends With County Ed Rejection

DON'T MISS

Will Terance Frazier’s Nonprofit Exit Granite Park? ‘Hell No’ He Says

DON'T MISS

Fresno Crash Sends Pickup Into Tree, Dark Tint Cited as Cause

UP NEXT

Israeli Soccer Fans Were Attacked in Amsterdam. The Violence Was Condemned as Antisemitic

UP NEXT

Middle East Latest: Israeli Defense Minister Officially Steps Down

UP NEXT

Wave of Racist Texts After Election Prompts FBI Scrutiny

UP NEXT

Large Airstrikes Hit Beirut Suburbs as Israel Expands Northern Gaza Operations

UP NEXT

Putin Congratulates Trump on His Election Victory in His First Public Comments on the US Vote

UP NEXT

8-Hour Russian Drone Barrage Keeps Kyiv on Edge as War in Ukraine Nears 1,000 Days

UP NEXT

Cuba Left Reeling After Category 3 Hurricane Ravages Island and Knocks Out Power Grid

UP NEXT

Trump Promises to Bring Lasting Peace to a Tumultuous Middle East. But Fixing It Won’t Be Easy

UP NEXT

Lebanon Files Complaint Against Israel at UN Labor Body Over Deadly Pager Explosions

UP NEXT

Despite Trump’s Unpredictability, Netanyahu Sees a More Favorable US President

Over 2,500 Central Unified Students Receive Spirit Sweaters at 20th Annual ‘Warm for Winter’

2 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Gang Members in Shooting Involving 7-Month-Old

3 hours ago

Fresno Team Makes Low-Budget Horror Flicks Look Like Multi-Million-Dollar Productions

3 hours ago

4B Movement: After the Election, a Call for Women to Swear Off Men

4 hours ago

Homeowners’ Effort to Leave Sierra Unified Ends With County Ed Rejection

5 hours ago

Will Terance Frazier’s Nonprofit Exit Granite Park? ‘Hell No’ He Says

6 hours ago

Fresno Crash Sends Pickup Into Tree, Dark Tint Cited as Cause

7 hours ago

November Has Scattered Cool Temps, Rain Showers for Fresno

7 hours ago

Beyoncé Makes Grammy History With ‘Cowboy Carter,’ Leading 2025 Nominations

8 hours ago

Macklin Celebrini, NHL’s Youngest Player, Scores on Marc-Andre Fleury, League’s Oldest

8 hours ago

Newsom Uses a Stunt to Position Himself as a Leader of Anti-Trump Resistance

Two days after the nation’s voters gave Donald Trump another term as president, Gov. Gavin Newsom staged a publicity stunt to position...

52 mins ago

52 mins ago

Newsom Uses a Stunt to Position Himself as a Leader of Anti-Trump Resistance

54 mins ago

CA Legislature Sets Record for Women in Office and Could See Historic Gender Parity

1 hour ago

Trump to Target Iran’s Oil Trade in Renewed ‘Maximum Pressure’ Campaign

The Foundation for Central Schools' 20th annual Warm for Winter event provided over 2,500 Central Unified students with spirit sweaters, thanks to community partnerships and generous donors. (Central Foundation)
2 hours ago

Over 2,500 Central Unified Students Receive Spirit Sweaters at 20th Annual ‘Warm for Winter’

3 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Gang Members in Shooting Involving 7-Month-Old

3 hours ago

Fresno Team Makes Low-Budget Horror Flicks Look Like Multi-Million-Dollar Productions

Following the results of Tuesday's election, Jada Mevs, a 25-year-old from Washington, D.C., is urging women to take action by signing up for self-defense classes, deleting dating apps, getting on birth control, and investing in vibrators, as part of a growing response to the election of Donald Trump for a second term and the failure of abortion rights referendums. (Shutterstock)
4 hours ago

4B Movement: After the Election, a Call for Women to Swear Off Men

5 hours ago

Homeowners’ Effort to Leave Sierra Unified Ends With County Ed Rejection

Search

Send this to a friend