US, UK slap fresh sanctions on Russia
New sanctions target Russian president’s daughters; Kremlin says peace talks not progressing rapidly enough
BERLIN: The US and UK on Wednesday announced new sanctions targeting a combination of Russian institutions and elites in retaliation for “war crimes” in Ukraine.
The measures come in the wake of what a senior US administration official on Wednesday called the “sickening brutality of Bucha” reflecting the “despicable nature of the Putin regime”, referring to the recent evidence of atrocities emerging in the wake of the retreat by Russian forces from the Ukrainian town.
The European Union, separately, was considering a ban on coal imports from Russia in a bid to reduce its energy dependence and cut off a source of revenue for Moscow.
The US on Wednesday imposed full blocking sanctions on Russia’s largest financial institution, Sberbank, which holds one-third of Russian banking assets, and the country’s largest private bank, Alfa Bank.
Additionally, by prohibiting any investment from any Americans in Russia, the US also aimed to make the exit of over 600 private sector multinational companies from Russia in the wake of the war a more enduring phenomena.
The US treasury also prohibited Russia from making debt payments with funds subject to US jurisdiction. “Russia is a global financial pariah – and it will now need to choose draining its available funds to make debt payments or default.”
In addition to sanctions aimed at Putin’s adult daughters, Mariya Putina and Katerina Tikhonova, the US targeted Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin; the wife and children of Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov; and members of Russia’s Security Council, including Dmitry Medvedev, a former president and prime minister.
In a move co-ordinated with the US, Britain also slapped a full asset freeze on Sberbank. Plus, it froze the assets of Credit Bank of Moscow. The UK will also end all imports of Russian coal and oil by the end of 2022 and sanction another eight wealthy Russians, it said.
The US called the sanctions the “most impactful, wide-ranging and coordinated economic restrictions in history”.
According to the senior administration official, the farranging measures are expected to wipe out the last 15 years of economic gains in Russia with the economy contracting by up to 15%, pushing Russia down from the 11th largest economy to possibly outside the top 20 global economies.
The sanctions are also expected to boost inflation to above 20%; cripple Russian growth; make it harder for Russians to travel and access goods and services; cause economic, financial and technological isolation; and push Russia “back to the living standards of Soviet Union of the 1980s”.
However, the official added, the sanctions were not permanent, and depended entirely on Putin’s choices. “We can escalate or de-escalate depending on circumstances,” the official said.
US President Joe Biden said slammed on Wednesday what he called “major war crimes” committed by Russia in Ukraine.
“Responsible nations have to come together to hold these perpetrators accountable,” he said.
‘Germany in secret talks’
Germany is in confidential discussions with Kyiv about possible security guarantees it could offer Ukraine to ensure its safety after Russia’s invasion, Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the lower house of the parliament.
Ukraine has proposed that as an alternative to Nato membership, something Russia insists it cannot accept, individual countries like Germany, Turkey or China could offer guarantees with a similar effect.
“We are in talks on guarantees with Ukraine,” he told Germany’s parliament. “These talks are confidential.”
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said on Wednesday that peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv were not progressing as rapidly or energetically as it would like.
Russia has accused the West of trying to derail peace talks with Ukraine by fuelling “hysteria” over allegations of war crimes by Moscow’s forces following their retreat from the Kyiv region.
China on Wednesday said images of civilian deaths in the Ukrainian town of Bucha are “deeply disturbing” but that no blame should be apportioned until all facts are known.