US Treasury announces massive economic sanctions on Russia

　　China News Agency, Washington, February 24 (Reporter Sha Hanting) The U.S. Treasury Department announced on the 24th local time that it would impose "unprecedented" large-scale economic sanctions on Russia in response to Russia's military actions in Ukraine.

　　The sanctions will target Russia's economic and financial system and involve almost all of Russia's major financial institutions, including the two largest financial institutions, Sberbank and VTB, the statement said.

The sanctions will target 80% of Russia's banking assets and will have serious long-term effects on the Russian economy and financial system.

　　The statement also said that sanctions will be imposed on some elites and their families in Russia; lending restrictions will be imposed on 13 Russian companies and entities; sanctions will be imposed on 24 Belarusian individuals and entities supporting Russia's military operations in Ukraine, including the Belarusian Defense Minister.

　　According to Treasury Department regulations, the assets of sanctioned objects in the United States will be frozen, and U.S. citizens will not be allowed to trade with them.

　　For Ukraine and other countries to request the removal of Russia from the SWIFT international settlement system, the United States did not involve this content in this round of sanctions.

In this regard, US President Biden said at the press conference that day that the decision was mainly due to "unsupported by European countries."

　　In addition, the sanctions announced that day did not include sanctions against Russian energy companies.

U.S. media quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that the Biden administration has expressed concerns about the energy market and does not want sanctions to affect the U.S. economy.

　　Recently, in response to Russia's military operations in Ukraine, the United States has adopted a number of economic sanctions, including sanctions on the Russian state-owned Development Bank (VEB), the Military Bank (PSB), the Russian company responsible for the construction of the "Nord Stream-2" natural gas pipeline project and its person in charge, etc.

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