US announces new Russia sanctions with Canada, EU

The U.S., Canada and European Union on Friday imposed financial sanctions on more than a dozen officials and entities accused of supporting Russia’s occupation of southeastern Ukraine.

The Treasury Department announced Friday that it had blocked six Russian individuals and eight companies that allegedly coordinated and provided material support for the Kremlin’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.

{mosads}The U.S. sanctions are matched by similar penalties imposed by Canada and the EU, according to the Treasury Department. 

“The United States and our transatlantic partners will not allow Russia’s continued aggression against Ukraine to go unchecked,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a statement.

Mnuchin said the “joint initiative” with Canada and the EU “reinforces our shared commitment to impose targeted and meaningful sanctions in response to the Kremlin’s attempts to disregard international norms and undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions under three executive orders targeting Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and other destabilizing military endeavors.

The sanctioned parties are now banned from the U.S. financial system and from accessing U.S-based assets.

Individuals and companies who conduct financial transactions with the targeted parties may also be penalized under U.S. sanctions.

OFAC sanctioned four Russian officials involved in the country’s November 2018 attack on three Ukrainian vessels in the Kerch Strait, which separates the Crimean Peninsula from Russia.

The department alleges that Gennadiy Medvedev, deputy director of the Russia’s federal border guard, and Sergey Stankevich, the head of Russia’s federal border directorate, “directly controlled and organized the attack against the Ukrainian ships and their crew.”

Treasury also accused Andrey Shein, Stankevich’s deputy, of participating in the operation, which led to the ongoing detainment of 24 Ukrainian crew members. Ruslan Romashkin, a top Russian military official in charge of Crimea, was also targeted under the sanctions.

OFAC also penalized six Russian defense firms, a construction company and an oil and gas company under sanctions targeting companies that work with the Kremlin’s military or support its operations in Crimea.