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WASHINGTON: Announcing its intent to devastate the Russian economy for its invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration on Wednesday intensified the “most severe sanctions ever levied on a major economy” while also targeting family members of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Putin’s adult daughters Mariya Putina and Katerina Tikhonova, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s wife and daughter, former President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Mikhail Mishustin were among the Moscow elites brought under sanctions, along with a ban on all new investments in Russia and a freeze on Moscow making debt payments with funds it holds in US jurisdiction.
The squeeze on the Russian leaders’ family members, many of whom live abroad, comes on the heels of a sanctions already announced on more than 140 oligarchs and their family members and over 400 Russian government officials.
“These individuals have enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people. Some of them are responsible for providing the support necessary to underpin Putin’s war on Ukraine. This action cuts them off from the U.S. financial system and freezes any assets they hold in the United States,” the White House said.
US officials also said Washington is “dramatically escalating the financial shock” by imposing full blocking sanctions on Russia’s largest financial institution, Sberbank, and its largest private bank, Alfa Bank. With this, the US has now fully blocked more than two-thirds of the Russian banking sector, which held about $1.4 trillion in assets before the invasion.
A “fact sheet” issued by the White House cited experts predicting that Russia’s GDP will contract up to 15 percent this year, wiping out the last fifteen years of economic gains.
“Inflation is already spiking above 15 percent and forecast to accelerate higher. More than 600 private sector companies have already left the Russian market. Supply chains in Russia have been severely disrupted. Russia will very likely lose its status as a major economy, and it will continue a long descent into economic, financial, and technological isolation,” the fact sheet said.
It also revealed that compared to last year, American exports to Russia of items subject to new US export controls have decreased 99 percent by value – and “the power of these restrictions will compound over time as Russia draws down any remaining stockpiles of spare parts for certain planes, tanks, and other resources needed for Putin’s war machine.”
The White House said and executive order to be issued by President Biden effecting some of the sanctions “will ensure the enduring weakening of the Russian Federation’s global competitiveness.”
The consequences of pushing Russia to the wall and to rack and ruin is not something that is particularly worrying the Biden administration, although at a Congressional hearing, a top US military officer told lawmakers Tuesday that the world is becoming more unstable and the “potential for significant international conflict is increasing, not decreasing.”
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine is threatening to undermine not only European peace and stability but global peace and stability that my parents and a generation of Americans fought so hard to defend,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said.
Other US officials have warned that the Russian action will have consequences beyond the region, with rise in prices of food, fuel, and fertilizer, which are already being seen in across the globe. Despite this, Washington is frowning on countries such as India and Indonesia trying to cushion the shock by buying energy Russia is offering at a discount, a tactic the US sees as an attempt by Moscow to break the sanctions.
Putin’s adult daughters Mariya Putina and Katerina Tikhonova, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s wife and daughter, former President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Mikhail Mishustin were among the Moscow elites brought under sanctions, along with a ban on all new investments in Russia and a freeze on Moscow making debt payments with funds it holds in US jurisdiction.
The squeeze on the Russian leaders’ family members, many of whom live abroad, comes on the heels of a sanctions already announced on more than 140 oligarchs and their family members and over 400 Russian government officials.
“These individuals have enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people. Some of them are responsible for providing the support necessary to underpin Putin’s war on Ukraine. This action cuts them off from the U.S. financial system and freezes any assets they hold in the United States,” the White House said.
US officials also said Washington is “dramatically escalating the financial shock” by imposing full blocking sanctions on Russia’s largest financial institution, Sberbank, and its largest private bank, Alfa Bank. With this, the US has now fully blocked more than two-thirds of the Russian banking sector, which held about $1.4 trillion in assets before the invasion.
A “fact sheet” issued by the White House cited experts predicting that Russia’s GDP will contract up to 15 percent this year, wiping out the last fifteen years of economic gains.
“Inflation is already spiking above 15 percent and forecast to accelerate higher. More than 600 private sector companies have already left the Russian market. Supply chains in Russia have been severely disrupted. Russia will very likely lose its status as a major economy, and it will continue a long descent into economic, financial, and technological isolation,” the fact sheet said.
It also revealed that compared to last year, American exports to Russia of items subject to new US export controls have decreased 99 percent by value – and “the power of these restrictions will compound over time as Russia draws down any remaining stockpiles of spare parts for certain planes, tanks, and other resources needed for Putin’s war machine.”
The White House said and executive order to be issued by President Biden effecting some of the sanctions “will ensure the enduring weakening of the Russian Federation’s global competitiveness.”
The consequences of pushing Russia to the wall and to rack and ruin is not something that is particularly worrying the Biden administration, although at a Congressional hearing, a top US military officer told lawmakers Tuesday that the world is becoming more unstable and the “potential for significant international conflict is increasing, not decreasing.”
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine is threatening to undermine not only European peace and stability but global peace and stability that my parents and a generation of Americans fought so hard to defend,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said.
Other US officials have warned that the Russian action will have consequences beyond the region, with rise in prices of food, fuel, and fertilizer, which are already being seen in across the globe. Despite this, Washington is frowning on countries such as India and Indonesia trying to cushion the shock by buying energy Russia is offering at a discount, a tactic the US sees as an attempt by Moscow to break the sanctions.
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