US, G7, EU impose severe severe financial sanctions on Russia
Apr 06, 2022
Washington [US], April 6 : The United States, along with the G7 nations and European Union (EU) has imposed severe and immediate economic costs on Russia for its "atrocities in Ukraine, including in Bucha".
As per an official statement from the White House, as a part of mechanisms to hold Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine, the US has announced economic measures to ban new investment in Russia and imposed severe financial sanctions on Russia's largest bank and several of its most critical state-owned enterprises and on Russian government officials and their family members.
These sweeping financial sanctions follow our action earlier this week to cut off Russia's frozen funds in the United States to make debt payments, read the statement.
In the new economic cost, the US has announced full blocking sanctions on Russia's largest financial institution, Sberbank, and Russia's largest private bank, Alfa Bank. This action will freeze any of Sberbank's and Alfa Bank's assets touching the US financial system and prohibit US persons from doing business with them.
The US has also prohibited new investment in the Russian Federation as President Joe Biden will sign a new Executive Order (E.O.) that includes a prohibition on new investment in Russia by US persons wherever located, aimed at isolating Russia from the global economy.
Further, full blocking sanctions on critical major Russian state-owned enterprises have been imposed, aimed at prohibiting any US person from transacting with these entities and freezing any of their assets subject to US jurisdiction.
The US has also imposed full blocking sanctions on Russian elites and their family members, including sanctions on Russian President Putin's adult children, Foreign Minister Lavrov's wife and daughter, and members of Russia's Security Council including former President and Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
The US Treasury has also prohibited Russia from making debt payments with funds subject to US jurisdiction. However, sanctions do not preclude payments on Russian sovereign debt at this time, provided Russia uses funds outside of US jurisdiction.
However, the US has expressed its commitment to exempting essential humanitarian and related activities from its sanctions.
Meanwhile, Biden on Tuesday authorized an additional USD 100 million in security assistance to Ukraine to meet a need for additional anti-armor systems. This brings the total US security assistance commitment to Ukraine to more than USD 1.7 billion since the beginning of Russia's military operation in the war-torn country, according to the US state department.
