US Adds Dozens of Russian Citizens, Entities to Sanctions List - Treasury Dept.

In reaction to the Kremlin's special military operation in Ukraine, the US, the EU, and others have slapped sanctions and export bans on Russia in recent weeks, including a ban on the import of energy products from Russia, and continue to expand the list to other businesses and individuals in the country.

The US Treasury Department announced sanctions against dozens of Russian-linked individuals and entities for their support of the Kremlin's special military operation in Ukraine and North Korea's weapons development.

"Today, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a new round of sanctions targeting Russian and Kremlin elites, oligarchs, and Russia’s political and national security leaders who have supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine," the Treasury Department said in a press release on Friday.

The US Treasury Department said it had imposed anti-Russia sanctions against ten members of VTB bank's management board, adding sanctions to the bank. Restrictions have been consistently introduced since the beginning of the Kremlin's special military operation, including disconnecting VTB Bank, along with several other financial institutions in Russia, from the SWIFT global financial network.

"Today, OFAC [Office of Foreign Assets Control] is designating the ten individuals comprising VTB Bank’s management board: Olga Konstantinovna Dergunova, Vadim Valerievich Kulik, Valerii Vasilyevich Lukyanenko, Anatolii Yuryevich Pechatnikov, Natalia Germanovna Dirks, Maxim Dmitrievich Kondratenko, Erkin Rakhmatovich Norov, Svyatoslav Evgenievich Ostrovsky, Dmitrii Vasilyevich Pyanov, and Yuriy Nikolaevich Andresov," the department said.

The department added that the OFAC had published guidance to block future attempts to use virtual currency as a means of avoiding US sanctions against Russia. The statement noted all of its moves are in addition to Biden's new executive order, which imposes significant import and export restrictions on Russia, including the export of US banknotes.

“The Treasury continues to hold Russian officials to account for enabling Putin’s unjustified and unprovoked war,” the press release quoted Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen as saying. “Today’s actions also further isolates the severely damaged Russian economy by prohibiting trade in products that are key to the economic and financial interests of all Russian elites.”

Earlier in the day, the Biden administration said that the president had signed an executive order to create a legal authority to bar any investment in any sector of the Russian economy.

"This EO will establish the legal authority for future investment restrictions in any sector of the Russian economy, as may be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, by a United States person," the White House press release said.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Yellen stated that the US had not seen any indication that China was aiding Russia with financial workarounds for sanctions imposed by the US and its allies in response to the ongoing military operation in Ukraine.

“I’ve not seen evidence that China is providing Russia with any significant workaround for our sanctions. They do buy Russian oil. Conceivably they could buy more, but there are limitations on the ability to ship oil to China,” Yellen said on Thursday.

According to the treasury secretary, Chinese banks that do heavy business with Western countries are concerned about their relationship with US and European financial institutions, and are wary of doing business with Russia in light of sanctions pressure.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki warned on Monday that if China does not follow the sanctions placed on Russia, the US will take action against it.

US Imposes Sanctions on Board Members of Novikombank, AO ABR Management

On late Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the US had imposed sanctions on four board members of Russia's Novikombank as well as four board members of AO ABR Management, adding to a lengthening list of Russian financial institutions under the restrictions.

"The Department of State is imposing sanctions on four board members of Novikombank, including its Chairwoman Elena Aleksandrovna Georgieva. The State Department is also imposing sanctions on AO ABR Management and four of its board members," Blinken said in a statement on late Friday.

US Treasury Authorizes Activities Related to Humanitarian Projects in Donbass Republics

The Treasury's OFAC announced that it had issued a license authorizing certain transactions with non-governmental organizations in the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic, related to humanitarian projects.

“Today, OFAC issued Ukraine-related General License 23, to authorize certain transactions that are ordinarily incident and necessary to nongovernmental organizations’ activities in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic or Lugansk People’s Republic regions of Ukraine, including activities related to humanitarian projects to meet basic human needs, democracy building, education, non-commercial developments projects, and environmental and natural resource protection,” the statement read.

New Sanctions on North Korea

OFAC also sanctioned two individuals and three entities for supporting North Korea’s development of weapons of mass destruction and its ballistic missile programs.

"The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today sanctioned two individuals and three entities for supporting the DPRK’s ongoing development of its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs)," a separate press release said.

According to the statement, the measures target a network of Russian-based persons and businesses who assist North Korea in obtaining components for its ballistic missile systems.

The US, the EU, and other nations have slapped sanctions and export bans on Russia in recent weeks, following the launch of the Kremlin's special military operation in Ukraine at the request of the people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk for assistance in defending against attacks by Ukrainian military assets.

The Russian Defense Ministry has stressed on numerous occasions that the military infrastructure of Ukraine is its main target, and that civilians are not in danger as a result of the ongoing military actions.

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