The United States on Monday slapped a new round of sanctions on Russia, freezing the assets of 17 companies and seven Russian Government officials including two close aides of President Vladimir Putin, in retaliation for Moscow’s “provocative” moves vis-à-vis Ukraine.
The Obama administration also imposed a travel ban on the officials and placed restrictions on US exports to 13 Russian companies. It has also announced a new policy to deny exports of high-technology items that could contribute to Russia’s military capabilities. Existing export licences will be revoked.
President Barack Obama, currently in the Philippines on the last leg of his four-nation Asian sojourn, said the new measures are aimed at ratcheting up the pressure on the Putin regime to reverse its moves on Ukraine’s border.
If this rounds of sanctions fails to work, Russia’s banking, defence and energy sectors could well be the next target of wider US sanctions, Obama indicated at a news conference in Manila.
“These sanctions represent the next stage in a calibrated effort to change Russia’s behavior,” Obama said, conceding: “We don’t yet know whether it is going to work.”
The officials targeted by Washington include Igor I. Sechin, president of the state-owned Rosneft oil company and a Putin adviser. Others sanctioned include Dmitry N Kozak, a deputy Prime Minister; Vyacheslav V Volodin, a deputy chief of staff to Putin; and Aleksei Pushkov, the chairman of the international affairs committee of the State Duma. The Russian companies sanctioned include Sobinbank and some other banks and energy companies.
In line with the G-7 decision last Friday, the European Union is expected to announce similar sanctions against Moscow within a day or so.
“Today, in response to Russia’s continued actions in southern and eastern Ukraine, the United States is implementing additional restrictive measures on defense exports to Russia,” a State Department release said, adding that Washington is expanding its export restrictions on technologies and services regulated under the US Munitions list (USMl).
It said the US will “continue to adjust its export licensing policies toward Russia, as warranted by Russia’s actions in Ukraine”, adding: “We urge Russia to honour the commitments it made in Geneva on April 17 to deescalate the situation in Ukraine.” Dealing with the issue of targeting Putin’s aides in the course of his comments, Obama said: “The goal is not to go after Mr Putin personally. The goal is to change his calculus with respect to how the current actions that he’s engaging in Ukraine could have an adverse impact on the Russian economy over the long haul. To encourage him to actually walk the walk and not just talk the talk when it comes to diplomatically resolving the crisis in Ukraine.”