The Government of the United States, in coordination with the countries that make up the G7 and the European Union (EU), announced this Wednesday a new package of sanctions against Russia in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine, which includes, among others, a ban on investing in the Eurasian country.
Specifically, the battery of sanctions, which comes after learning of the massacre of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, is made up of “devastating economic measures”such as the ban on investments in Russia, and imposes the “severest” financial sanctions against Russia’s largest bank and several of its most critical state-owned companies, as well as against government officials and their families.
Thus, the allies have completely blocked the assets of the largest Russian financial institution, Sberbankand its largest private bank, Alfa Bank in the United States, while prohibiting Americans from doing business with both.
In addition, President Joe Biden will soon sign an executive order that will prohibit new investments in Russia for Americans, wherever they are. The measure seeks to “further isolate” Russia from the global economy and is built on the decision of more than 600 multinational companies to leave the Russian market.
On the other hand, the United States has vetoed American transactions with Russian state-owned companies and has frozen their assets under the jurisdiction of the North American country, which “damages” the Kremlin’s ability to use the resources of these companies to finance the war in Ukraine. The Treasury Department will provide the names of these companies this Thursday.
As for the sanctions imposed against officials and their families, the United States has expelled them from its financial system and frozen their assets. They are the adult daughters of the president, Vladimir Putin, the wife and daughter of the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and members of the Russian Security Council, including former President Dimitri Medvedev and the current ‘premier’, Mijail Mishustin.
“These individuals they have enriched at the expense of Russian citizens” and “some of them are responsible for providing the necessary support for Putin’s war in Ukraine,” the White House said in a statement.
Finally, the US Treasury has prohibited Russia from making debt payments with funds under your jurisdiction and allies have pledged to support sectors deemed “essential” for humanitarian activities benefiting Russian citizens.