President Joe Biden announced more than 500 new sanctions against Russia on Friday, in response to the death of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
KEY FACTS
In a White House statement, Biden said the sanctions will target “individuals connected to Navalny’s imprisonment,” as well as Russia’s financial sector, the country’s defense industry and “sanctions evaders across multiple continents.”
The sanctions also include additional export curbs targeting 100 entities “providing backdoor support for Russia’s war machine.”
Biden’s statement hailed Navalny as a “courageous anti-corruption activist and Putin’s fiercest opposition leader.”
In the statement, Biden urged members of the House to pass the national security supplemental bill to allow for additional military aid for Ukraine, warning that Russia is receiving weapons from North Korea and Iran.
The Treasury Department said the new round of broad sanctions will target Russian financial companies, including banks, investment firms, venture capital funds and fintech firms, as well as further restrictions on the nation’s drone manufacturers, the 3D printing industry and even diamond mining industries.
Additionally, the sanctions will target dozens of firms in other countries that U.S. authorities have identified as doing business with Russia’s military-industrial complex, including companies based in China, Serbia, North Korea, the UAE, Liechtenstein, Kyrgyzstan, and NATO members Estonia and Finland.
NEWS PEG
Last Friday, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was found dead in a prison in the Russian Arctic, where he was serving a 19-year sentence for extremism.
The popular politician has been an outspoken critic of the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin, and remained an important symbol of political resistance after his 2020 poisoning and 2021 arrest.
Since his death last week, western leaders have begun to target individuals directly connected to Navalny’s imprisonment. On Wednesday, the U.K. Foreign Office announced sanctions on six Russian prison leaders, freezing their assets in the country and instituting a travel ban.
The office expanded those sanctions one day later to include 50 more Russian individuals and businesses associated with the war effort in Ukraine. In the U.S., three of the individuals targeted by Friday’s sanctions are Russian government officials who had a “connection with Navalny’s death,” according to a release from the Treasury Department. The department did not identify the Russian officials or where they worked.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“History is watching. The failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will not be forgotten. Now is the time for us to stand strong with Ukraine and stand united with our Allies and partners,” Biden said.
KEY BACKGROUND
The new sanctions come on the eve of the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This month also marks the 10-year anniversary of the military conflict between the two countries, which began when Russia annexed Crimea in February 2014.
“Two years into this war, the people of Ukraine continue to fight with tremendous courage,” Biden said in a statement on Friday. “But they are running out of ammunition.
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.” The Senate recently passed a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, which included about $60 billion earmarked for military aid for the war-torn Eastern European nation.
However, the bill has stalled in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told congressional Republicans in a closed-door meeting he would not be “rushed” into passing the legislation, the Associated Press reported.
Biden encouraged the House to pass the aid package quickly, noting that the bill received “overwhelming” support in the Senate, including votes from 22 Republican senators.
TANGENT
Meanwhile, a group of Democratic senators led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) arrived in Kyiv on Friday for a surprise visit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In a statement posted on Friday morning, Schumer said the war marked an “inflection point in history,” and said the senators would show the people of Ukraine and the U.S.’s allies in Europe and NATO they would honor their commitments.
“We must make it clear to our friends and allies around the globe that the U.S. does not back away from our responsibilities and allies.”
I am Ryan Grandberry, I have done my bachelor’s in English literature, and further on I did my master’s in biotech. My most preferred genre of writing is health and biotech. I have been writing from the past 6 years about articles, web content, and blogs. In my career and education, I like to play along with work. I have also been a teacher in the past for 2 years.