U.S. President Joe Biden.
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- President Joe Biden on Monday announced a set of new sanctions targeting Russia.
- The measures focus on Russian financial institutions, the country’s sovereign debt, and Russian elites.
- Here are the sanctions the US has levied against Russia and what they mean.
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a set of sweeping new sanctions against Russia in response to its recent actions in Ukraine.
“This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Biden said from the White House.
The move comes one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the Moscow-backed separatists’ territorial claims in eastern Ukraine, the self-named “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk. The Monday escalation reversed Russia’s years-long stance on the region and marked a possible lead-up to a major offensive.
The US measures announced Tuesday — which target two Russian financial institutions, the country’s sovereign debt, and Russian oligarchs and their family members — accompanied the repositioning of additional US troops to Baltic countries along Russia’s eastern flank, though Biden said they were not there to “fight Russia.”
Biden notably held back on some measures that would economically harm Russia, saying they would move forward if there is continued aggression in the region.
Here are the sanctions the US has levied against Russia thus far.
Biden announced ‘full blocking sanctions’ on two large Russian financial institutions
In a move to cut off the Russian government from Western finance, the White House targeted two of Russia’s largest financial intuitions — VEB and Russia’s military bank, Promsvyazbank — the latter of which performs defense deals, Biden said.
A Treasury Department press release said VEB is “crucial” to Russia’s ability to raise funds, while Promsvyazbank is a critical part of Russia’s defense sector. The two institutions and their 42 subsidiaries hold combined assets worth tens of billions of dollars, the release said.
The sanctions forbid the institutions from doing business in the US and cut the banks off from the American financial system. Any assets under US jurisdiction will be immediately frozen and US individuals and entities are forbidden from doing business with the banks.
“Today’s action constrains Russia’s ability to finance defense-related contracts and raise new funds to finance its campaign against Ukraine,” the press release said.
Reuters reported that Tass Russian news agency cited Promsvyazbank as saying the sanctions would not significantly affect the institution as it had already taken precautionary measures, the specifics of which it did not expand upon.
The measures also target Russia’s sovereign debt
“That means we’ve cut off Russia’s government from Western financing. It can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets, either,” Biden said Tuesday.
The move is meant to further cut Russia off from revenue sources it would need to fund its government or Putin’s priorities regarding Ukraine, according to the Treasury Department.
The White House said it would restrict Russian debt dealings in the secondary market for bonds issued after March 1, effectively blocking the country from trading in its debt on US and European markets.
“These restrictions significantly cut off a core way for Russia to raise money,” the Treasury Department release said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Alexei Nikolsky/Associated Press
The US also set sanctions against Russian elites and their families
The White House said Tuesday that Russian oligarchs and Putin-allies continue to use their proximity to the Russian president to elevate themselves and their family members to positions of power at the expense of the Russian people.
“They share in the corrupt games of the Kremlin policies and should share in the pain as well,” Biden said.
The administration targeted individuals believed to be “participating in the Russian regime’s kleptocracy,” as well as members of their families, including the Chairman and CEO of Promsvyazbank, according to the Treasury Department.
The individuals are:
- Aleksandr Vasilievich Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation and a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation;
- His son, Denis Aleksandrovich Bortnikov, deputy president of Russian-state owned financial institution VTB Bank Public Joint Stock Company and chairman of the VTB Bank Management Board;
- Petr Mikhailovich Fradkov, the chairman and CEO of Promsvyazbank, former prime minister of Russia, and former director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service;
- Sergei Vladilenovich Kiriyenko, first deputy chief of staff of the Presidential Office;
- As well as his son, Vladimir Sergeevich Kiriyenko, former vice president of Russian state-controlled Rostelecom and CEO of VK group, the parent company of Russia’s top social media platform.
Aleksandr Bortnikov and Sergei Kiriyenko had both already been sanctioned and were re-designated on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s actions block any and all property and interests in property in the US belonging to the sanctioned individuals. The measure also subjects financial institutions and individuals who engage in certain activities and transactions with the sanctioned individuals to “enforcement action,” according to the Treasury Department.
Tuesday’s measures come after Biden already ordered sanctions against two Kremlin-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine on Monday
The White House on Monday ordered sanctions against the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk after Putin recognized the areas as independent states, as opposed to parts of Ukraine.
The executive order is separate from the economic sanctions announced Tuesday. The Monday sanctions prohibit new investments in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by US citizens, importing goods from the regions into the US, and exporting goods to the regions from the US or by a US citizen.
The order also allows the US authority to impose sanctions on anyone operating in the regions.
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