US to sanction over 500 targets involved in Russia ‘war machine’

WASHINGTON (AFP): The United States plans to impose sanctions on more than 500 targets involved in Russia’s war in Ukraine, as fighting continues to rage two years after Moscow’s invasion, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

The action to be rolled out on Friday will hit “Russia, its enablers, and its war machine,” a Treasury spokesperson told AFP.

The official added that the sanctions will be imposed by both the Treasury and State Department.

This will be the “largest single tranche since the start of Putin’s further invasion of Ukraine,” the Treasury said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine in February 2022, Washington and its allies have imposed a host of sanctions, targeting Moscow’s revenue and military industrial complex.

Among the efforts was a price ceiling enacted by the United States and allies, aimed at cutting down Moscow’s revenues from exports of oil and petroleum products.

To reduce revenues while ensuring supplies to the global market, a coalition involving the Group of Seven leading economies, the European Union and Australia had set a price cap of $60 per barrel of Russian crude.

Due to the price cap, Russia had the option to either sell discounted oil to coalition countries or invest in building an alternative ecosystem.

In recent months, the coalition announced plans to tighten compliance for the price ceiling.

The fresh sanctions on Friday come after Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny died last week in a Russian prison.

US President Joe Biden earlier reaffirmed plans to unveil sanctions, saying they would be “against Putin, who is responsible for his death.”

The US government also marked the upcoming two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of pro-Western Ukraine by unsealing charges against a series of wealthy Russians to help cut the “flow of illegal funds that are fueling” Moscow’s war.