NEW WESTERN SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA
BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada imposed new sanctions on Russia on Thursday over the war in Ukraine, targeting dozens of companies in the defense, 328 elected members of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament also targeted as an entity, as well as the CEO of Sberbank, the first bank in Russia.
The US Treasury Department has also warned, in new guidance posted on its site, that gold deals involving Russia could be subject to punitive measures, a move aimed at preventing Moscow from evading sanctions.
More than 40 defense companies are targeted, including the public group Tactile Missiles Corp and 28 companies linked to it. This conglomerate notably manufactures naval weapons that Russia uses in Ukraine, including the Kh-31 guided missile.
Other firms targeted include manufacturers of ammunition, civilian and military helicopters and drones first used, according to the US Treasury, for surveillance purposes but converted to attack Ukrainian forces.
“Our goal is to methodically deprive Russia of the benefits and privileges it once enjoyed as a member of the international economic system,” a senior official in Joe Biden’s administration said.
The United States, the European Union and other countries allied with Washington such as Canada, Australia or Japan have imposed several waves of massive and unprecedented economic sanctions on Russia since the Russian army invaded the Ukraine on February 24, what Moscow calls a “special operation”.
“Russia will soon face a severe shortage of ideas, talents and technologies to face the 21st century,” commented the senior American official, castigating the “strategic failure” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The announcement of these sanctions coincides with the holding, this Thursday, of NATO, G7 and European Union summits intended to show the unity of Westerners against Russia after a month of war in Ukraine.
(Report Jarrett Renshaw, Daphne Psaledakis and Jeff Mason, French version Jean-Stéphane Brosse, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)