U.S. imposes new sanctions on Russia for Crimea\, investments

U.S. imposes new sanctions on Russia for Crimea, investments

Reuters  |  WASHINGTON 

(Reuters) - The on Thursday imposed sanctions on two Ukrainians, a Russian and nine entities for Moscow's annexation of and profiting from the occupation, the said.

Kovulchuk, whom the government has called "the personal banker" for senior Russian officials, is a close ally of Russian and was previously sanctioned by the over the crisis.

"Treasury remains committed to targeting Russian-backed entities that seek to profit from Russia's illegal annexation and occupation of Crimea," Sigal Mandelker, Treasury's under for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.

The sanctions, bought under a 2017 U.S. law known as the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA, aim to further punish for seizing control of Ukraine's peninsula in March 2014 after Moscow-backed Ukrainian fled power after months of street protests.

The takeover began in late February when Russian troops without insignia appeared in various parts of Crimea, mostly outside Ukrainian military bases and government buildings.

The new sanctions are unacceptable and such attempts to influence are doomed to fail, TASS agency reported Russian as saying on Thursday.

Among those blacklisted is Andriy Sushko, an from The said he was responsible for the abduction of a Crimean Tatar activist in 2017, who was tortured while being held.

The sanctions also target companies that the Treasury said benefited from the annexation of Crimea. Among them is the Mriya Resort and Spa, a hotel investment bankrolled by Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, on the South Shore of Crimea in the city of Yalta, the department said.

Also blacklisted was the of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, the Treasury said.

(Reporting by Tim Ahmann, and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by and Leslie Adler)

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First Published: Fri, November 09 2018. 02:52 IST