NEW YORK, February 25 — In a third set of actions against Russia this week the U.S. sanctioned the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir V. Putin, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, as well as other members of Russia’s Security Council,
the Treasury Department announced today in a public statement.
The decision responds to Russia’s “unjustified, unprovoked, and premediated invasion of Ukraine,” the Treasury said. The sanctions were applied as on Friday evening witnesses reported hearing artillery rounds and intense gunfire from the western part of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as families cowered in shelters and authorities told residents to prepare petrol bombs to defend city, Reuters reported. Russian President Putin urged the Ukrainian military to overthrow leadership and negotiate peace, while via social media Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy‘s spokesman, Sergii Nykyforov, said the nation and Russia were discussing a place and time for talks.
The U.S. sanctions builds on sweeping actions took earlier this week targeting Russia’s financial system, including sanctions against the nation’s largest financial institutions, restricting the ability of the Government of the Russian Federation to raise capital, and cutting it off from access to critical technologies, the Treasury said. “Cumulatively, these actions impose unprecedented diplomatic and economic costs on Russia and further isolate it from the global financial system and international community.”
President Putin and Minister Lavrov are directly responsible for Russia’s unprovoked and unlawful further invasion of Ukraine, a democratic sovereign state, the Treasury said.
The U.S. Department of State also designated two additional Russia’s officials and members of Security Council directly responsible for the further invasion of Ukraine: Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Sergei Shoigu, and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, First Deputy Minister of Defense, and General of the Army Valery Gerasimov. Treasury has previously designated eleven members of the Russian Security Council and will continue to impose costs on the ruling elite as Russia prosecutes this brutal war of choice.
“We are united with our international allies and partners to ensure Russia pays a severe economic and diplomatic price for its further invasion of Ukraine,” said Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen. “If necessary, we are prepared to impose further costs on Russia for its appalling behavior on the world stage.”
Today’s sanctions were taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14024, which authorizes sanctions against Russia for its harmful foreign activities, including violating well-established principles of international law such as respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states, the statement said.
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