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Obama extends sanctions against Russia over 'illegal' Ukraine actions Obama extends sanctions against Russia to include wealthy Putin allies
(about 1 hour later)
President Barack Obama has extended financial sanctions against Russia to include wealthy supporters of Vladimir Putin and a bank said to be close to the Kremlin, in a bid to deter further aggression against Ukraine. President Obama has extended financial sanctions against Russia to include wealthy supporters of Vladimir Putin and a bank close to the Kremlin, in a bid to deter Russian military incursions into eastern and southern Ukraine.
Amid growing pressure for a tougher US response, the White House also issued a new executive order authorising a wider economic blockade against key Russian industries if the situation escalates. Amid growing pressure for a tougher US response to the crisis, the White House also issued a new executive order authorising a co-ordinated economic blockade with the European Union against key Russian industries if the situation escalates.
White House officials also revealed the Pentagon was providing “non-lethal” assistance to the Ukrainian military and claimed there were signs of human rights abuses against minorities in Crimea, including the apparent torture of dead Tatar man and “houses marked in a biblical fashion”.
“We have continued to be deeply concerned by events in Ukraine,” said Obama. “We have seen a illegal referendum in Crimea, an illegitimate move by the Russians to annex Crimea and dangerous risks of escalation.”“We have continued to be deeply concerned by events in Ukraine,” said Obama. “We have seen a illegal referendum in Crimea, an illegitimate move by the Russians to annex Crimea and dangerous risks of escalation.”
“Because of these choices the US is today moving to impose additional costs on Russia. We’re imposing sanctions against more senior officials of the Russian government and in addition we are sanctioning a number of other individuals with substantial resources and influence.”“Because of these choices the US is today moving to impose additional costs on Russia. We’re imposing sanctions against more senior officials of the Russian government and in addition we are sanctioning a number of other individuals with substantial resources and influence.”
Despite calls from Kiev for military support from the US, Obama has made clear that he is not willing to risk American troops in Ukraine. The additional financial sanctions target 20 new individuals, including eight officials previously identified by the European Union. They extend an initial list announced on Monday to add what the White House calls “Putin’s cronies”.
“We are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine,” the president said in an interview on Wednesday. The previous blacklist of 11 officials shied away from touching top figures or oligarchs.
But pressure has been growing in the US and abroad for the White House to take a more robust stance. Most significantly, the new blacklist targets several influential businessmen known to be close to Putin.
In Israel, with which relations are already strained over perceived US weakness in Syria and Iran, defence minister Minister Moshe Ya’alon was forced to apologise to the Pentagon yesterday for calling Obama’s image in the world “feeble”. Gennady Timchenko, who controls the Gunvor Group, the fourth-largest crude oil trader in the world, has a net worth of $15.3bn and was said by Forbes to be “one of the most powerful people in Russia.”
He said the White House must “come to its senses” lest it face new global threats. Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, judo friends of Putin and co-owners of SMP Bank and SGM Group, which provide construction services to state-controlled gas giant Gazprom, were among the elites said to have profited from the Sochi Olympics.
“Look what’s happening in Ukraine, where the United States is demonstrating weakness, unfortunately,” said Ya’alon in a speech on Tuesday. Companies controlled by Arkady Rotenberg won at least $7.4bn worth of contracts related to the Games, Bloomberg reported. He is one of the most influential businessmen in the country, according to Forbes.
The new list also targets Bank Rossiya, which the US claims is the personal bank for senior officials of the Russian Federation.
Among the new Kremlin officials who will face asset freezes are Sergei Ivanov, Putin’s chief of staff, and state Duma chairman Sergei Naryshkin, who has vocally supported Russian intervention in Ukraine. Vladimir Yakunin, the head of state-owned Russian Railways, was also on the list.
All those included will have any US assets frozen and a ban placed on any dealings with US companies, which the White House claims will affect their ability to do business globally.
Several Russian politicians openly mocked earlier White House sanctions against government officials, claiming they did not have any assets that could be hurt by the move and would not deter their policy in Crimea.
But officials in Washington insisted the new steps – together with the threat of co-ordinated action with the EU against Russian industry – were intended to send a signal to deter possible Russian military incursions in eastern and southern Ukraine.
“We are concerned by recent Russian military movements. It would be a significant escalation for Russia to move into southern and eastern Ukraine,” a senior US administration official told reporters. “That is part of the context [of these sanctions]; to send a signal that these key sectors of the Russian economy are in play for sanctions.”
The official added: “Sanctions build over time. They are very powerful. People might think they are a mere wrist slap, but I can assure you they are not.”
Despite calls from Kiev for military support from the US, Obama has made clear that he is not willing to risk American troops in Ukraine and is so far not supplying arms. “We are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine,” the president said in an interview on Wednesday.
But White House officials confirmed on Thursday that the Pentagon was already providing “non lethal assistance” to Ukraine – a phrase that could indicate intelligence and satellite imagery, or equipment such as night-vision goggles. They also said the US had evidence that Moscow had closed its border to Ukrainian goods entering Russia, imposing “an effective trade embargo”.
In retaliation to the US economic sanctions, Moscow has also announced its own financial blacklist including White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, senators John McCain and Harry Reid and House speaker John Boehner.
The White House decision to blacklist some of Putin’s closest aides piled the pressure on Europe to get tougher with Russia, although the Europeans have immeasurably more at stake in an escalating sanctions war with Moscow.
The Europeans were expected to acquiesce to Russia’s seizure of the Crimea from Ukraine while talking up the prospects of a potential trade war with Moscow if Putin expands his territorial ambitions beyond the Black Sea peninsula.
A summit of EU leaders in Brussels wrestled with a response to what is broadly seen as the most significant act of destabilisation in Europe since the end of the cold war. They were expected to blacklist at least a further 10 Russian and Crimean officials, adding to the 21 who were barred from travelling to the EU and had their assets frozen on Monday.
The new names were believed to mirror those sanctioned by the US administration earlier this week. The Europeans also called off an EU-Russia summit scheduled for June in Sochi, but remained deeply divided about escalating the dispute with the Kremlin for fear of the damage that Moscow could do to the Europeans in a full-blown trade war.
Extraordinary measures were taken at the summit to preserve confidentiality, signaling the sensitivity of the debate among 28 national leaders. The president of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, chairing the summit, barred all aides and advisers to the government chiefs from Thursday evening’s dinner and insisted no mobile phones or other electronic devices be allowed. There was no known precedent for such measures in the history of EU summitry, diplomats said.
German chancellor Angela Merkel said that the EU would move to economic and financial sanctions against Russia if Putin extended the conflict beyond Crimea. But Berlin also recognized that the peninsula was a lost cause.
“It has to be said clearly [by Moscow] that Russia is not pursuing any territorial interests beyond Crimea,” said the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The pressure from Washington also strengthened the hand of David Cameron, the British prime minister, who led calls for more robust action against Russia. Confidential diplomatic cables seen by the Guardian confirmed that Britain was spearheading demands that the EU prepare financial and trade sanctions against Moscow, known as stage three of the sanctions regime.
“The UK in particular has expressed the expectation that the European Council [summit] take concrete measures on the next steps,” said a cable. The British were calling for “emergency planning” on stage three sanctions while also declaring that the pain in Europe from the expected Russian reprisals had to be spread “equally”.
“What Russia has done is unacceptable,” said Cameron. “The countries of the European Union need to speak with a clear and united voice. What that means is more asset freezes and travel bans, more actions specifically in respect of what has happened in the Crimea, but also it means making sure that we do everything we can to help build a strong and democratic Ukraine.”
Thursday night’s confidential dinner debate was expected to focus for the first time on broadening financial and trade sanctions on Russia, their impact, and the likely effect on European countries from the certain Russian retaliation.
The leaders were expected to warn Putin of the possible move towards a trade war, hoping that this would act as a deterrent, said senior EU diplomats. Other officials said the summit might move beyond the blacklisting of officials by agreeing an arms embargo on Russia, a move that might be opposed by France which has billions at stake in defence contracts with Moscow.