US unveils arsenal of new sanctions against Russia
Washington announced this Friday, February 23, its largest round of sanctions since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Sanctions which target more than 500 people and organizations from different countries, also in response to the death of opponent Alexeï Navalny a week ago.
US President Joe Biden speaks to the press after his meeting with the widow and daughter of Alexeï Navalny, in San Francisco, February 22, 2024. © Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
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“
Vladimir Putin must pay a high price for his aggression against Ukraine.
» This is what Joe Biden wrote this Friday morning, a week after the death of Alexeï Navalny and on the eve of the second anniversary
of the start of the war in Ukraine.
The White House press release was published very early this morning, announcing the largest set of sanctions taken so far by the country against Russia, says our correspondent in New York,
Loubna Anaki
.
In total, 500 new sanctions target companies from 26 countries, people from 11 countries, including China or Germany, and concern the Russian financial sector, the defense industry, various individuals supporting Moscow, but also personalities linked to the imprisonment of opponent Alexeï Navalny, who died a week ago.
The announcement of this arsenal of new sanctions also comes the day after Joe Biden's meeting with the wife and daughter of the deceased Russian.
In detail, three Russian officials are among those
targeted by the United States
for their involvement in this death, the State Department also indicated.
This brings to more than 4,000 the number of entities targeted by American sanctions since the start of the war.
Sanction of the Mir payment system
The objective of these reprimands: to limit the financial resources available to the Kremlin to finance the war.
Also targeted: the Russian Mir payment system, the development of which “
allowed
Russia
to build a financial infrastructure that allows it to evade sanctions and rebuild severed links with the international financial system
,” according to the US Department of Commerce. Treasure.
Developed in 2015 in the face of Western sanctions following the annexation of Crimea in 2014, these Mir cards allow Russians to make payments and withdraw money in certain foreign countries.
Washington thus targets “
people located outside of Russia
who facilitate, orchestrate, participate in or otherwise support the transfer of critical technologies and equipment to the Russian military-industrial base
,” the Treasury Department also detailed in a statement.
Among the long list, technological companies in the semiconductor, optics, drones and information systems sectors are concerned, and even an institute of applied mathematics.
Ukraine ' needs
US
help
'
The American president also presented new export restrictions targeting around a hundred entities which allowed Russia to circumvent sanctions already in place.
Because despite the multitude of Western sanctions, Russia recorded growth of 3.6% in its GDP in 2023, thanks to orders for munitions and arms.
In the same press release, Joe Biden, however, salutes the courage of the Ukrainians who “
fight with determination for their country and their freedom
”.
But he warns that kyiv lacks arms and ammunition.
“
They need help from the United States to resist Russia,
” insists the Democratic president, who calls on his
Congress to vote on military aid
, for the moment still blocked by the Republicans in the House of Representatives. Representatives.
For its part, Russia described these new American sanctions as “
cynical
” interference, intended to divide Russians before the presidential election in mid-March which should see Vladimir Putin triumphantly re-elected.
“
The new restrictions are another brazen and cynical attempt to interfere in Russia's internal affairs, to force us to give up our vital interests, to divide Russian society on the eve
[...]
of the election presidential election
,” denounced the ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, quoted by the Russian state agency Tass.
(
And with
AFP)
Read alsoAmerican aid to Ukraine: perhaps a glimmer of hope for kyiv
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