Washington imposes new sanctions targeting Russian ‘war machine’

The United States announced on Tuesday a new package of sanctions targeting the "war machine" of Russia, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington to seek a new aid package for his country.

The sanctions target approximately 150 individuals and entities suspected of supplying or financing the Russian defense industry in its war against Ukraine and circumventing the sanctions imposed on Russia since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement, "The Kremlin has gradually turned Russia into a wartime economy, but Putin's war machine cannot sustain itself with local production alone."

She added, "Our sanctions continue to tighten the grip on suppliers and countries that provide Russia with the goods it desperately needs to develop and maintain its military-industrial complex."

In a separate statement, the US State Department announced on Tuesday that it would impose sanctions targeting 100 individuals and entities.

Washington imposed sanctions on individuals and entities based in China, Russia, Hong Kong, and Pakistan that are involved "in the manufacture and supply of Chinese weapons and technologies," according to the Treasury Department.

The sanctions include freezing assets that may flow back to the targeted individuals and companies in the United States and prohibiting any American individual or company from dealing with the sanctioned individuals, subject to being targeted themselves.

AFP