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| U.S. imposes new sanctions on Russia | U.S. imposes new sanctions on Russia |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| The Obama administration on Monday imposed new asset freezes and visa bans on seven Russian government officials and sanctions on 17 companies linked to President Vladimir Putin’s “inner circle,” saying that the measures were a response to Russia’s failure to cease provocative acts in Ukraine. | The Obama administration on Monday imposed new asset freezes and visa bans on seven Russian government officials and sanctions on 17 companies linked to President Vladimir Putin’s “inner circle,” saying that the measures were a response to Russia’s failure to cease provocative acts in Ukraine. |
| The sanctions, which President Obama previewed during a visit to the Philippines, include additional restrictions on 13 of the Russian companies, imposing licensing requirements “with a presumption of denial” for the export or transfer of any U.S.-made items to those enterprises. | The sanctions, which President Obama previewed during a visit to the Philippines, include additional restrictions on 13 of the Russian companies, imposing licensing requirements “with a presumption of denial” for the export or transfer of any U.S.-made items to those enterprises. |
| The new sanctions were imposed under executive orders Obama signed last month following Russia’s incursion into the Ukrainian region of Crimea. In a statement, the White House noted that a separate order authorizes the president to sanction “key sectors of the Russian economy” and said he would move to do so “if there is further Russian military intervention in Ukraine.” | The new sanctions were imposed under executive orders Obama signed last month following Russia’s incursion into the Ukrainian region of Crimea. In a statement, the White House noted that a separate order authorizes the president to sanction “key sectors of the Russian economy” and said he would move to do so “if there is further Russian military intervention in Ukraine.” |
| “The international community has been unified in its position that Russia must cease its illegal intervention and provocative actions in Ukraine,” the statement said. “The United States, working closely with its partners, remains prepared to impose still greater costs on Russia if the Russian leadership continues these provocations instead of de-escalating the situation.” | “The international community has been unified in its position that Russia must cease its illegal intervention and provocative actions in Ukraine,” the statement said. “The United States, working closely with its partners, remains prepared to impose still greater costs on Russia if the Russian leadership continues these provocations instead of de-escalating the situation.” |
| The seven officials sanctioned on Monday are all close friends or key supporters of Putin, including Igor Sechin, president of Rosneft, Russia’s leading state-owned petroleum company. | |
| U.S. officials have described their strategy as an attempt to pressure key Putin associates into pushing their leader for a more conciliatory Ukraine policy. | |
| In addition to Sechin, the other officials cited were either connected to Russia’s effective annexation of Crimea or are otherwise involved in its foreign and security policy. Businessman Sergey Chemezov, who lived in the same East German apartment complex as Putin when Putin was stationed there as a KGB officer in the late 1980s, is the head of state-owned Rostec, a major arms and technology exporter that has long supplied Boeing with titanium for its airplanes. Vyacheslav Volodin, Putin’s first deputy chief of staff, is one of the Russian president’s closest advisers and, the Treasury Department said, is believed to have been involved in Russia’s decision to take over Crimea. | |
| Russian officials were defiant after the sanctions were announced on Monday, and brushed off any notion that they might change Russian policies. | |
| “The more sanctions come, the stronger the consolidation of the elites will be,” said Andrei Belousov, an economic aide to Putin, the Interfax news agency reported. | |
| Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov described the new sanctions as “disgusting.” | |
| The U.S. announcement “demonstrates the utter absence of understanding about what is going on in Ukraine,” Ryabkov told Interfax. “It is a distorted mirror of foreign policy, not a responsible approach to the situation.” | |
| Ryabkov said the Russian government would take reciprocal measures. “We have never been concealing that we have capabilities for such a response at our disposal, as well as a set of measures, which is rather large, that will be used,” he said, without elaborating. | Ryabkov said the Russian government would take reciprocal measures. “We have never been concealing that we have capabilities for such a response at our disposal, as well as a set of measures, which is rather large, that will be used,” he said, without elaborating. |
| Previous rounds of sanctions have already taken a toll on the Russian economy, and Standard & Poor’s last week downgraded the country’s debt to the brink of junk status, citing capital flight. On Monday, however, the ruble immediately rose half a percentage point against the dollar after slumping earlier in the day in the expectation that the latest U.S. measures would be more severe. | Previous rounds of sanctions have already taken a toll on the Russian economy, and Standard & Poor’s last week downgraded the country’s debt to the brink of junk status, citing capital flight. On Monday, however, the ruble immediately rose half a percentage point against the dollar after slumping earlier in the day in the expectation that the latest U.S. measures would be more severe. |
| Officials said the Obama administration had been ready to move on new sanctions Friday but postponed them to coordinate its actions with the European Union. E.U. foreign ministers meeting Monday in Brussels agreed to add 15 Russian and Ukrainian individuals to their existing list of people subject to asset freezes and travel bans. Some, but not all, overlap with U.S. measures imposed in what are now three rounds of sanctions. The new names are to be listed in the European Union’s official register on Tuesday. | Officials said the Obama administration had been ready to move on new sanctions Friday but postponed them to coordinate its actions with the European Union. E.U. foreign ministers meeting Monday in Brussels agreed to add 15 Russian and Ukrainian individuals to their existing list of people subject to asset freezes and travel bans. Some, but not all, overlap with U.S. measures imposed in what are now three rounds of sanctions. The new names are to be listed in the European Union’s official register on Tuesday. |
| Under the new U.S. measures, effective immediately, the Commerce Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will deny pending applications for export or re-export of certain high-technology defense articles or services to Russia or to occupied Crimea that contribute to Russia’s military capabilities. | |
| In addition, the department is taking actions to revoke any existing export licenses that meet these conditions. All other pending applications and existing licenses will receive a case-by-case evaluation to determine their contribution to Russia’s military capabilities. | In addition, the department is taking actions to revoke any existing export licenses that meet these conditions. All other pending applications and existing licenses will receive a case-by-case evaluation to determine their contribution to Russia’s military capabilities. |
| Sechin’s Rosneft has major joint oil exploration and project projects with ExxonMobil, and British oil giant BP owns a 19.75 percent stake in the company. Sechin will no longer be able to travel to the United States for business consultations, but he said Monday said that the sanctions would have little effect on Rosneft’s projects or bottom line. | |
| “I view the latest steps by Washington as a high evaluation of the effectiveness of our work,” he told Interfax. “We assure our shareholders and partners, including Americans, that this effectiveness will not decrease and that our cooperation will not suffer but will develop dynamically.” | |
| Putin on Monday did not directly address the announcement, but he said that “Western partners” were targeting Russia’s defense industry with sanctions in an attempt to weaken it and to force it to rely on imports from Ukrainian factories. | |
| “We will achieve our goals regardless,” he told lawmakers in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk. “It is just a matter of time and money.” | |
| Birnbaum reported from Moscow. | Birnbaum reported from Moscow. |