The US plans to target as many as 500 entities linked to Russia’s military complex in third countries, reported Reuters quoting Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo.
President Biden had earlier announced that the US was considering a “new wave of sanctions” post the death of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison last week.
The new sanctions have been declared at a time when the US Congress continues to deny President Biden’s $95 billion aid package that includes funds for Israel and Ukraine.
“Sanctions and export controls are geared towards slowing Russia down, making it harder for them to fight their war of choice in Ukraine,” Adeyemo told Reuters. Russia has not yet responded to the US sanctions announcement.
President Biden’s frustration with President Putin spilled over this week when he called the Russian leader a “crazy SOB” at a fundraiser. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov decried Biden’s remarks as a “disgrace” and that Biden was attempting “to look like a Hollywood cowboy.”
Russia’s growth forecasts, acccording to the IMF, are likely to double this year from 1.1% last October to 2.6%. What impact the new US sanctions could have on these figures was not clear.
Russia has so far successfully circumvented sanctions by exporting oil to China and India. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told Rossiya-24 state TV in December last year, that the two countries accounted for 90% of the country’s crude oil exports.
