The United States has imposed new sweeping sanctions on dozens of Russian banks, companies, and individuals, saying they were being targeted to further restrict the flow of materials to manufacturers that supply the Russian military and to punish companies and individuals that have helped Moscow evade sanctions.
The sanctions, announced on February 24, the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, seek to punish 250 people and firms and put financial blocks on banks, arms dealers, and technology companies tied to weapons production, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a news release.
The sanctions are a “significant action to diminish Russia’s ability to continue its brutal war and to procure the resources used to support it,” the department said.
The department said the sanctions, taken in coordination with the Group of Seven (G7), take aim at sanctions evaders, including companies and banks in countries such as Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
The action, together with additional measures taken by the State and Commerce departments and the U.S. trade representative, “further isolates Russia from the international economy and hinders Russia’s ability to obtain the capital, materials, technology, and support that sustain its war against Ukraine, which has killed thousands and displaced millions of people,” the Treasury Department said.
The sanctions will have both short-term and long-term impact and will be “seen acutely in Russia’s struggle to replenish its weapons and in its isolated economy,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.
Measures announced by the State and Commerce departments and the trade representative increase tariffs on Russian products, including Russia’s metals and mining sector.
The White House said the actions include a 200 percent tariff on aluminum and aluminum derivatives produced in Russia.
The White House also said the sanction are aimed at targets in Russia and others across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East supporting Russia’s war effort.
Also designated for sanctions are a dozen financial institutions, including Credit Bank of Moscow, one of Russia’s largest nonstate banks; importers of microelectronics; and producers of materials for defense systems.
The package names more than 30 people and firms allegedly connected to Russia’s sanctions evasion efforts. Among them are Nurmurad Kurbanov, a Russian-Turkmen arms dealer who the Treasury Department said represented Russian and Belarusian defense firms abroad, and Russian businessman Aleksandr Yevgenyevich Udodov, the former brother-in-law of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
In addition, the announcement adds nearly 90 Russian and third-country companies to a list of identified sanctions evaders.
The United States and other Western governments have directly sanctioned roughly 2,500 Russian firms, government officials, oligarchs, and their families since Russia launched the full-scale invasion. The sanctions deprive those designated access to any assets they may hold in U.S. banks and access to U.S. financial markets. They also prevent them from doing business with Americans and traveling to the United States.
Sanctions already imposed by Western countries place price caps on Russian oil and diesel, freeze Russian Central Bank funds, and restrict access to SWIFT, the dominant system for global financial transactions.
At a G20 meeting in India on February 24, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Marie told a press conference that the sanctions are strong, efficient, and “are hitting and reducing all revenues of Russia.”
Also speaking at the G-0 meeting, Britain’s treasury chief, Jeremy Hunt, said, “We don’t think the job is by any means done.”
