US President Joe Biden announced new sanctions on Russia today, in response the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The second round of sanctions target Russian banks, including state-backed Sberbank and VTB, along with wealthy individuals and families, freezing their US assets.
Biden ordered the US Treasury Department to sever the correspondent banking ties with Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, and 25 subsidiaries within a month.
Other banks aside from Sberbank and VTB affected by the sanctions are Otkritie, Novikombank, and Sovcombank.
The individuals targeted include members of families close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and others deemed “financial sector elites,” including Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank; and Andrey Puchkov and Yuriy Soloviev, high-ranking VTB Bank executives.
The Biden administration also expanded existing restrictions on US citizens dealing in Russian sovereign debt and equity of Russia state-owned enterprises.
The US Department of Commerce also issued a series of stringent export controls that will “severely restrict Russia’s access to technologies and other items that it needs to sustain its aggressive military capabilities.”
The new Russia-specific export control measures impose a policy of denial on sensitive items Moscow relies on for its defense, aerospace, and maritime industries. These items, many of which were not previously subject to controls when destined for Russia, include semiconductors, computers, telecommunications, information security equipment, lasers, and sensors.