These sanctions, which specifically target the financial arm of the giant gas company Gazprom, affect about forty financial registration offices and 15 directors of Russian financial institutions, according to what Agence France-Presse reported.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement, “This decision will make it difficult for the Kremlin to evade US sanctions to finance and equip its army.”
“We will continue to act against any financing channel you may use,” she added Russia To support its illegal and unjustified war in Ukraine.”
In a separate statement, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said, “In September, President Joe Biden announced increased aid and additional measures in support of Ukraine in its response to Russian aggression. Today, the United States imposes massive sanctions on more than fifty financial institutions to limit their ability to continue its brutal war against the people.” Ukrainian”.
Sanctions include a company Gazprom And all its overseas branches located in Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Cyprus and South Africa.
It also targets more than fifty small or medium-sized banking institutions that Moscow is suspected of using to pass payments for the purchase of equipment and technology.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control, for its part, warned foreign institutions that may be tempted to join the Russian financial message transmission system, which was established after Russian financial institutions were banned from using the international “SWIFT” service.
OFAC emphasized that “any foreign financial institution that has joined or wishes to join the Financial Message Transfer System may be designated as operating or has operated within the Russian financial system” and thus potentially be targeted for sanctions.
The sanctions were extended to include several members of the Russian Central Bank, in addition to directors of Russian financial institutions in Shanghai and New Delhi.
The sanctions stipulate the freezing of assets owned directly or indirectly by the targeted entities or persons in the United States, as well as preventing any American company or citizen from establishing a commercial relationship with the targeted persons or companies, under penalty of being exposed to sanctions.
Sanctioned persons are also prohibited from entering US territory.
These new sanctions come at a time when Russia is suspected of using a strategic missile, the first of its kind in history, to strike the Ukrainian city of Dnipro (centre).
However, Washington announced that it was an “experimental medium-range ballistic missile.”
