The US on Friday announced “severe” new sanctions on Russia in response to what President Joe Biden called Moscow’s “fraudulent” claim to have annexed four Ukrainian regions.
“The United States is imposing swift and severe costs on Russia,” the White House said in a statement. It also announced that G7 allies support imposing “costs” on any country that backs the Kremlin’s attempt to incorporate the Ukrainian regions.
In a statement, Biden said “the United States condemns Russia’s fraudulent attempt today to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory. Russia is violating international law, trampling on the United Nations Charter, and showing its contempt for peaceful nations everywhere.”
“The United States will always honor Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders. We will continue to support Ukraine’s efforts to regain control of its territory by strengthening its hand militarily and diplomatically, including through the $1.1 billion in additional security assistance the United States announced this week,” he continued.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “the United States unequivocally rejects Russia’s fraudulent attempt to change Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders.”
“In response, the United States and our allies and partners are imposing swift and severe costs,” he said.
The Biden administration said the sanctions will target scores of Russian parliament members, government officials, family members and also industries supplying the Russian military, “including international suppliers.”
The US Treasury Department said it imposed sanctions on 14 people in Russia’s military-industrial complex, two leaders of the country’s central bank, family members of top officials and 278 members of Russia’s legislature “for enabling Russia’s sham referenda and attempt to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory.”
The Treasury also issued guidance warning of a heightened sanctions risk to those outside Russia should they provide political or economic support to Moscow.
The regions — Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia — are currently under partial Russian occupation, with Ukraine’s Western-armed military pushing hard to recapture the land.
In 2014, Putin annexed another region, Crimea, where Russian troops faced almost no opposition from the then badly organized Ukrainian military.
This February, he launched a full-scale invasion of eastern, southern and northern Ukraine in a bid to topple the pro-Western government, but the revamped Ukrainian military has since partly repelled the invaders and continues to push Russian lines back.
