The US announces more than 500 new sanctions against Russia on the second anniversary of the war

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, announced this Friday one of the toughest rounds of sanctions against Russia since the beginning of the war in Ukraine to punish Moscow for continuing the invasion of the neighboring country, on the second anniversary of the conflict. , and for the death of the opponent Alexéi Navalny in a penal colony in the Arctic Circle.

The new round of penalties includes more than 500 new sanctions that will be imposed on individuals related to Navalny's imprisonment and to the Russian sectors of finance, the military industry and the purchase of weapons, as indicated by Biden in a statement.

Restrictions will also be applied to the exports of about a hundred entities that provide support to Russia and measures will be taken to reduce Moscow's income from the energy sector.

Together, these steps “will ensure that Putin pays an even greater price for aggression outside his home and his repression at home,” the president maintains.

With these measures, Washington aims to make the management of Russian President Vladimir Putin more difficult, when the war is going to enter its third year and Moscow has just achieved an important victory with the Ukrainian withdrawal from the city of Avdiivka.

Sanctions against the military sector try to make it difficult for Russian forces to resupply weapons and ammunition.

And those directed against the financial sector seek to attack Russia's economy, so far less affected by international sanctions than the West expected at the beginning of the war.

“If Putin does not pay the price for the death and destruction [he has caused], he will continue,” Biden maintains.

“The costs for the United States, along with our partners and allies in Europe, NATO and around the world, will increase,” said the president, who met in San Francisco on Thursday with Navalni's widow, Yulia Navalnaya. , and the couple's eldest daughter, Dasha.

A day earlier he called Putin a “crazy son of a bitch” during a meeting with donors to his party.

The new sanctions also touch on an internal American key: with them, Biden seeks to increase pressure on Congress and overcome the resistance of the radical wing of the Republicans to advance military and economic aid funds to Ukraine, which have already accumulated for almost half a year. delay.

The Senate has already given the green light to the allocation of 95,000 million dollars (about 87,750 million euros) for security that the White House has requested - of which 61,000 million will be allocated to Kiev -;

But the House of Representatives, with a Republican majority, is dragging its feet and it is uncertain if it will even debate the measure.

Washington warns that the delay in approving these funds only emboldens Russia and harms Ukrainian forces that are forced to ration their ammunition.

The fall of Avdiivka, the president assures, is a consequence of this and a preview of what may happen on the rest of the battle front, endangering the national security of the United States and its European partners.

In announcing the new round of punishments, Biden has reiterated his call to approve aid for Ukraine as soon as possible.

“Stopping support for Ukraine at this critical moment is something that will not be forgotten,” the US president has warned.

“Two years after the start of the war, the Ukrainian people continue to fight with tremendous bravery.

But he's running out of ammunition;

"They need more supplies from the United States to repel Russia's incessant attacks, made possible by weapons and ammunition from Iran and North Korea," Biden has warned.

The measures announced this Friday come from the Departments of State, Commerce and the Treasury, and include punishments against more than two dozen individuals and entities operating around the world, from China to the Middle East, that help Russia evade sanctions already existing.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement that Putin “has sold out the present and future of the Russian people for his personal goal of subjugating Ukraine.

The Kremlin chooses to reorient its economy to make weapons that kill its neighbors, at the expense of the economic future of its own people.

But we must maintain our support for Ukraine, while weakening the Russian war machine.”

According to Yellen, “the Russian economy and defense industry show clear signs of weakness, in part due to the actions we have taken – together with our partners around the world – to support the courageous defense of Ukraine.”

For its part, the State Department has stressed that "there is a link between authoritarianism in Russia, its campaign against internal dissent, and its aggression abroad."

This institution has imposed sanctions against three individuals involved in the imprisonment of Navalny, who died a week ago in the Russian penal colony IK-3;

These are the director of the prison, the regional head of the prison system and the president of the Russian penitentiary service.

Since the start of the war in February 2022, Washington and Western countries have implemented measures that limit the price at which Russia can sell its hydrocarbons - its main source of income - and also frozen Moscow assets valued in the hundreds of thousands. of millions of dollars.

To date, the US Treasury and State Departments have sanctioned more than 4,000 entities and individuals.

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