One more notch. The United States increased its economic and financial pressure on Russia by announcing new sanctions on Wednesday 6 April. This decision, followed immediately by the United Kingdom, comes after the international shock caused by the images of the corpses of civilians, shot dead in the town of Boutcha.
“Major war crimes” are being committed by Russian forces, President Joe Biden has stressed. On a symbolic level, the US Treasury targets the two daughters of Vladimir Putin, Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova, the wife and daughter of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and, finally, all (twenty-one) of the members of the Council of national security. Without revealing details, the Biden administration believes that many assets belonging to the Russian president are “hidden” in his family circle.
A total of 140 businessmen and members of their entourage, as well as 400 Russian officials, are already on the US sanctions list. One way to make these elites radioactive and to limit, it is hoped in Washington, their ability to travel and enrich themselves. “Our eyes are fixed on every yacht and jetexplained the assistant attorney general, Lisa Monaco. Our eyes are fixed on every piece of art and real estate bought with dirty money and on every bitcoin wallet filled with the proceeds of theft or other crimes. »
Despite these proactive remarks, questions are multiplying about American sanctions, decided in close cooperation with European allies. The preservation of Russian revenues in the energy sector due to European indecision, the massive intervention of the Russian central bank in support of the ruble, which returned to its pre-war rate against the dollar, as well as the rigorous alignment of the elites behind the Kremlin in the name of a so-called mission “existential” in Ukraine do not seem to create a crisis that is enough of an incentive to stop the war in the short term.
For 70% of Americans, Russia is an enemy country
It is again the Russian financial sector that is targeted by the American administration, to raise the price of the invasion, if not to prevent it. “The reality is that the country is sinking into economic, financial and technological isolation, a senior official explained to the press on Wednesday. At this rate, he will return to the Soviet-type living standards of the 1980s.” Two establishments are this time in the crosshairs, Sberbank and Alfabank. Prohibition will be made to any citizen or entity, in the United States, to operate the slightest transaction with them, regardless of the currency. “Sberbank is the main artery of the Russian financial system, indicated the senior American official. It alone owns a third of the assets of the banking sector, i.e. more than 500 billion dollars [460 milliards d’euros]. »
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