America imposes sanctions on Russian naval entities
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on 10 Russian maritime entities over Russian operations targeting Ukrainian ports, the State Department said, as Washington increases pressure on Moscow over the war on Ukraine.
This action comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met his US counterpart, Joe Biden, in Washington and delivered a speech to Congress on Wednesday, during which he thanked the United States for its support of Ukraine in the conflict and called for more weapons.
"In the wake of Russian naval operations in Ukrainian ports, including those that supply much-needed food and grain, the United States is today imposing sanctions on Russian maritime entities," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
Ukraine said the Black Sea port of Odessa stopped working for a day earlier this month, and that Chornomorsk and Pivdenye were partially operational after a Russian attack on the region's energy system.
The three ports export grain under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July with Russia and Ukraine to resume shipments to Ukraine from the Black Sea, which have been stalled since the war began on February 24.
The agreement also provides for the facilitation of Russian food and fertilizer exports.
The State Department said six of the entities targeted in Thursday's decision operate or have worked in both the defense and related materials and maritime sectors of the Russian economy.
The other four entities were targeted to work in the maritime sector of the Russian economy.
Among those entities is the Promate Central Scientific Research Institute of Structural Materials, described by the State Department as Russia's largest materials research center, and among the country's leading companies involved in building naval military ships and developing military technology.
Other entities involved in the development, production, and research of the Russian Navy, among other things, have been targeted.
"The United States remains determined to use all appropriate measures to deter Russian attacks on Ukraine, whether air, land or sea," Blinken said. "These accountability actions underscore a simple message...the Kremlin must end its brutal crackdown on Ukraine."
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