According to the White House, the United States and its Western allies intend to impose fresh sanctions on Russia on Wednesday in response to the surfacing of worrying new evidence of war crimes in Ukraine. The additional sanctions will include a prohibition on any new investment in Russia, as well as other restrictions.
According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, more penalties on Russia’s financial institutions and state-owned firms, as well as sanctions against government officials and their families, are among the measures being implemented.
A further measure was made on Tuesday by the Treasury Department, which barred any Russian government debt payments made using US dollars from accounts at US financial institutions, so making it more difficult for Russia to satisfy its financial commitments.
The Biden administration also announced on Tuesday night that it will be providing an extra $100 million in military support to Ukraine, which was previously disclosed. “There is an urgent Ukrainian need for more Javelin anti-armor systems,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement on the new equipment.
Presiden Joe Biden and his allies have worked together to impose crippling economic sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine more than a month ago. These sanctions include the freezing of central bank assets, export controls, and seizure of property, including yachts, belonging to Russia’s wealthy elite. In reaction to the assaults, fatalities, and devastation that took place in the Ukrainian city of Bucha this week, demands for additional sanctions have been more vocal.
Deputy Secretary of State Jen Psaki said that the sanctions are designed to increase Russia’s economic, financial, and technical “isolation” from the rest of the world as a punishment for its atrocities on people during the Ukrainian conflict. Russia’s isolation is a critical component of the United States’ strategy in Ukraine, which is predicated on the assumption that Russia would eventually run out of money and weaponry to conduct a protracted war in the country.
Psaki said that the government is evaluating “further penalties and procedures we can put in place,” but she stressed that President Biden is not considering military action at this time.
When Russia becomes increasingly desperate, it resorts to military tactics that have outraged much of the international community, leading to accusations that it is committing war crimes and the imposition of additional sanctions.
Nonetheless, almost all of the EU has refrained from imposing an outright ban on Russian oil and natural gas, which would almost certainly have a devastating effect on the Russian economy. Russian fossil fuels have been prohibited by the United States, while Lithuania halted natural gas imports from that nation on Saturday, becoming the first of the EU’s 27 member states to do so. The European Union’s executive body suggested a ban on Russian coal on Tuesday, while the German government announced plans to phase down its reliance on Russian natural gas over the next two years.
After Russian soldiers withdrew from the Ukrainian capital, Biden called for Vladimir Putin to be investigated for war crimes and subjected to further sanctions as a result of the atrocities and abuses that have occurred in and around Kyiv since then. The bodies of what seemed to be civilians were found sprawled over yards, with many of them having been shot at close range, according to witnesses.
