On Thursday, the United States announced new financial sanctions against Russia targeting politicians, powerful businessmen and the defense industry, in response to Russia's military operations in Ukraine.
In a statement, the White House said that these measures, which provide, in particular, to the freezing of assets in the United States, include 328 deputies in the Duma, as well as the Russian House of Representatives itself, and 48 "major public companies" in the defense sector.
The statement indicated that they are "total ban sanctions against more than 400 people and entities, including the State Duma and its members and additional members of the Russian elites and Russian defense companies", due to what it said were "the fuel for Putin's war."
The US Treasury indicated, in a separate statement, that the sanctions specifically target the "Tactical Weapons Corporation", a Russian state defense conglomerate that currently deploys its weapons in Russia.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the Group of Seven and the European Union announced a coordinated reinforcement of their response in order to prevent sanctions targets from avoiding them.
It also wants to impose sanctions on any deal that includes Russia's gold reserves to avoid Moscow bypassing the financial isolation measures taken by the Westerners against it.
In a statement, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States and its allies "strike to the core Russia's ability to finance and carry out its war and atrocities against Ukraine."
Shortly before that, the British government announced a new series of sanctions targeting 59 Russian individuals and companies and six Belarusian entities.
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- Agencies