PremiumThe US has sanctioned Russian central bank head Elvira Nabiullina and several other prominent Russians and businesses for Putin's attempt to annex territory in eastern Ukraine
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The US has sanctioned Russia central bank head Elvira Nabiullina and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak as well as hundreds of other prominent Russians and businesses, punishing the country for President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to annex territory in eastern Ukraine.
The sanctions announced on Friday were among the most sweeping actions taken since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
“We will not stand by as Putin fraudulently attempts to annex parts of Ukraine," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement, adding that the US is “targeting key leaders" in Russia’s financial sector, limiting its ability to prop up the economy.
Nabiullina, 58, has served as Russia’s central bank governor since 2013 and was appointed to a new five-year term in March. Before that, she served as Putin’s economic adviser. She has managed the economic fallout from international sanctions, quickly adjusting to a wartime policy when the ruble plunged 30%.
With the ruble plunging as the U.S. and its allies imposed sweeping sanctions -- including on the central bank itself -- she more than doubled the key interest rate and imposed capital controls to stanch the outflow of cash.
Nabiullina sought to resign after Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, only to be told by the president to stay, Bloomberg News reported in March.
Novak, 51, has represented Russia in talks with Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries since 2016 and helped forge the historic cooperation agreement between OPEC and nations outside the group to coordinate production and prevent a supply glut, including the deal on historic cuts in 2020 amid Covid-19 pandemic.
The Treasury Department also sanctioned Olga Skorobogatova, the first deputy governor of the central bank as well as 14 international suppliers for supporting Russia’s military supply chains, 109 members of the State Duma and 169 members of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
In addition, the Treasury and State Departments sanctioned relatives of members of Russia’s national security council, including the wife and children of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and the wife and adult children of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The State Department is also imposing visa restrictions on Ochur-Suge Mongush for “torturing a Ukrainian prisoner of war" along with 910 other individuals, including members of the Russian and Belarusian militaries and their proxies.
The Department of Commerce is adding 57 entities to its Russian export blacklist and issuing an advisory that the US says makes clear other countries will face penalties for supplying Russia or Belarus with military or industrial support, including backfilling items prohibited by the US and its allies.
But Treasury said that its Office of Foreign Assets Control generally won’t impose sanctions on non-US persons who engage in “certain energy-related transactions" with Russia. The department is trying to implement a global cap on the price of Russian oil by allowing it to flow to third countries under some restrictions.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.