U.S. President Joe Biden has announced a fresh package of more than 500 sanctions against Russia for its war on Ukraine and for the death of Kremlin opponent Aleksei Navalny, while urging the House of Representatives to pass a desperately needed aid package for Kyiv.
"These sanctions will target individuals connected to Navalny's imprisonment as well as Russia's financial sector, defense industrial base, procurement networks, and sanctions evaders across multiple continents," Biden said in a statement issued by the White House on February 23, on the eve of the second anniversary of Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
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The sanctions "will ensure [Russian President Vladimir ] Putin pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home," Biden said.
The statement also announced that Washington was imposing export restrictions on nearly 100 entities that are helping Russia evade trade sanctions and are "providing backdoor support for Russia's war machine."
The list includes three Serbian companies that an RFE/RL investigation in November found were exporting dual-use goods that can be used for both military and civilian purposes to Russia.
It also designates two Kazakhstan-based companies that were named in an RFE/RL investigation in June that revealed that the companies exported sanctioned dual-use technology to Russian suppliers of the Kremlin’s war machine.
Biden’s announcement said further measures were being taken to diminish Russia’s energy revenues, and he says he's directed his team "to strengthen support for civil society, independent media, and those who fight for democracy around the world."
Biden also said Ukraine's U.S.-led allies remain committed to providing critical assistance to Kyiv, but Ukrainians, despite fighting with immense courage, are running out of ammunition. The president again urged Congress to pass $61 billion in aid to Ukraine that has been stalled in the Republican-led House of Representatives despite being passed in the Senate in an overwhelming bipartisan vote.
"Ukraine needs more supplies from the United States to hold the line against Russia’s relentless attacks, which are enabled by arms and ammunition from Iran and North Korea," Biden said.
"That’s why the House of Representatives must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental bill, before it’s too late.... History is watching," Biden warned.
The U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions target nearly 300 people and entities, while the State Department hit more than 250 people and entities, and the Commerce Department added more than 90 companies to the Entity List.
The combined actions comprise the largest number of sanctions imposed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Treasury Department said in a news release.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the anniversary of the war and Navalny’s death in Russian custody are “stark reminders of Putin’s disregard for human life,” noting the suffering of Ukrainians and “those who dare to expose the corrupt abuses that fuel his regime.”
She said Russia’s economy and military-industrial base are showing signs of weakness, in part due to the sanctions and other actions taken by the United States and its allies.
Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said the new round of sanctions is an attack on Russia's core interests but said Moscow will continue protecting them.
"The new illegitimate restrictions are yet another brazen and cynical attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation," Antonov said, according RIA Novosti.
The sweeping U.S. sanctions take aim at the state-owned National Payment Card System, the operator of the Mir payment system whose cards became more widely used after U.S. companies suspended operations in Russia. The sanctions also target dozens of Russian banks, investment firms, venture capital funds, and fintech companies.
In the energy sector, the Treasury Department broadened sanctions against the Arctic LNG 2 project in Siberia, and the State Department targeted Russia's Zvezda shipbuilding company, which it said is involved in the construction of highly specialized LNG tankers intended for use in support of Arctic LNG 2 exports.
The new sanctions also target the network Russia has used to acquire and produce drones and a wide array of individuals and entities in Russia’s military-industrial base -- “from Russia’s flagship defense companies to machine tool importers, third-country sanctions evaders to semiconductor manufacturers,” the Treasury Department said.
The State Department said it imposed sanctions on three individuals in connection with Navalny's death -- the prison warden, regional prison head, and the deputy director of the Federal Penitentiary Service.
The sanctions freeze any property the individuals and entities hold in U.S. jurisdiction and block people and entities in the United States from dealing with them.